


Flutterball

by AVernedi



Category: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Ensemble Cast, F/F, Slow Burn, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-04 19:14:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21401386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AVernedi/pseuds/AVernedi
Summary: Knuckleball pitchers like Vanille get special catchers assigned to them. Fang is more than willing to be that catcher.The adventures of the Cocoon l'Cie varsity baseball team as they win, lose, and learn to handle both life and magic throughout the regular season.
Relationships: Oerba Dia Vanille/Oerba Yun Fang, Serah Farron/Snow Villiers
Comments: 12
Kudos: 16





	1. In Which There Is a Kind of Rookie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I can't believe Lumina is just an OC I made up. Can't believe there's no sequels to FFXIII :)

Coach always said Fang didn't have a sense of self preservation but she reckoned that wasn't quite true. She was just hard to scare. Didn't need to preserve yourself if nothing could hurt you.   


Take Snow, currently rounding third base and barreling towards where she was guarding home plate. 250lbs of waiting-for-an-ass-kicking. The relay was coming in from Noel in center field, caught by Maqui at second, who launched it towards her. Still shaky under pressure, Maqui's throw was slightly off, but her bare hand snapped out and caught it. People were cheering on the sidelines and she barely heard them. She planted her feet just in time as Snow dropped into his slide.   


They collided.

The entire stadium held their breath as the dust settled and Coach took in the scene. Snow's feet had missed the plate by a good foot and a half. 

"You're out!"

Applause broke out from those watching, the rookies waiting to join their practice. "Alright that's it, l'Cie!" Coach called. "Let's get the newbies it here."

"Which one's Serah?" Fang asked as Lightning, coming in from 3rd base, fell in beside her.  


"I'll introduce you."   


Lightning had gotten a lot more mellow in the year Fang had known her, but that was nothing compared to the way that her eyes visibly lit up as they got closer to the fence. 

"You did so good, Light!" one of them enthused, reaching out to grab both Lightning's hands, and Fang knew this was Serah. 

"Thanks." Lightning's smile was soft.

"Well done!" said another girl who looked startlingly similar to Serah. Oh right, Lightning had mentioned a cousin.

"You were great too!" someone said and Fang felt a thrum of surprise because that was an accent from the motherland. She turned and there was a slight girl with ginger pigtails smiling up at her. She seemed a little sunburnt already; she was pink across her cheeks and nose. 

Fang smiled. "Thanks." Nothing like flattery for a first impression.

\- -

Training week was an interesting time on campus. The rest of the student body wasn't back from winter break yet (though winters around here never got truly cold), so the place was a ghost town, save for the student athletes, occasionally seen moving in herds. Fang for her own part, didn't feel the need to move with the crowd but she could most often be seen with Lightning. 

Lightning naturally got up at 6:00 every morning, a hold over from her military days. It was a good backup in case Fang's alarm failed to motivate her. This alarm, by necessity, was louder than the gods' revolver and yet, it had been more than once that Fang had woken up to Lightning giving the side of her bed a kick. 

Like today.

_Thud!_

"Get moving." Lightning's voice was the stern military officer.

"Nnn." Fang scrunched her eyes shut tighter against the light coming in through their window. There was another kick.

"I _said_ get moving." 

_Look alive, sunshine._ Fang struggled upright. "Feel better now you got that out of your system?" she asked once she'd managed to swing her feet over the side of the bed. 

There was a time, when they first met, where that would have gotten her a murderous glare. But the two of them had come a long way. "Yeah," Lightning said. There was a smile pulling at her mouth. "Thanks for asking." Then, "Serah's waiting, come on." 

"You telling me your sister gets up early too?" Ugh, what to wear. Fang had her practice uniform in her sports bag already, reaching instead for the pile of clothes she had on the back of her chair. She was into anything that would show off the muscles but it still got cold in the mornings around here. 

Even Lightning was wearing a scarf, her duffle already slung over her shoulder. "She used to make me breakfast," she said from where she was waiting by the door. "When I was enlisted."

It took Fang a full 30 seconds to process that in her morning fog. "I thought you lived on base."

"I came home for the weekend. It was close."

"That is so sweet." Fang scrounged around for something to put over her muscle tank and landed on a longline flannel shirt. "Right." She yawned hugely. "Ready."

As Lightning opened their door, it took a moment or two to process that someone was there already. Serah and Lumina. Right. It was still creepy how similar they looked. Were cousins supposed to look that similar? If it wasn't for the fact Lumina seemed to only dress in black, Fang didn't think she'd be able to tell them apart yet. 

"Morning!" Serah's voice was way too cheerful. 

"Morning," Lightning replied. Fang didn't manage more than a grunt. 

"Hey girl hey," Lumina said. 

"Good morning ladies," came a familiar voice behind them, and despite the hellish hour, Fang grinned at the eye roll that got out of Lightning. She and Snow never really got along. 

Snow was one of the other freaks who seemed to have no trouble getting up early. He appeared at the same time every morning, dragging Gadot behind him. 

"Good morning!" Serah had to crane her neck to look up at him. Fang was willing to bet she didn't weigh more than one of his thighs.

"Did you sleep well?"

Snow grinned. "Like a baby."

"Yeah," Gadot said, "because you didn't have to listen to yourself snoring all night." 

"Honey," Snow joked. They were best friends. "Can't we talk about this later?" 

Serah gave a very specific kind of giggle and Fang had to stop herself from laughing at it. She didn't trust herself to look at Lightning but she caught Lumina's eye. They shared a knowing look. Yep. That Serah was a girl smitten if she ever saw one.

"G'day mate," Gadot said to her as they all began to make their way to the cafeteria. Fang grinned, baring all her teeth at him.

"Never heard that one before."

Their team tended to sit together at the breakfast table but it was normal for a fair number of them skip. Fang probably would if it weren't for Lightning. Talk was fairly minimal except for Serah and Snow enthusiastically discussing their summers. 

It wasn't until after breakfast that Fang had any reason to think about the late risers. They were just exiting the cafeteria when they heard "Wait!"

Turning towards the sound, Fang saw her through the trees, coming over the bridge. It was Vanille, the ginger girl with pigtails, running towards them. Some of the others on the team continued walking but their little group waited as she ran right up to them, skidding to a halt before over balancing, and almost falling on her face.

"Whoa!" Fang grabbed her by the shoulders, steadying her. "Easy there."

"Thank you," Vanille panted, stepping away to put her hands on her knees for support. She seemed to have dressed in haste, her practice jersey hanging open over her pink sports top, her hair a mess. "Did I miss it?" she asked. "Did I miss breakfast?"

"Yeah we're finished," Fang said, watching her finally stand back up. Vanille, she decided, was one of those people who just looked good no matter how little time they'd had to get ready. 

"Oh no!" She put her hands on her stomach. "I'm so hungry..." 

"Maybe there's still time?" Serah suggested. 

"We're already running late," Lightning pointed out. "I'm sorry." Fang could hear the shade of genuine regret in her voice, though she probably sounded cold to the new people. 

As the group reluctantly started to move down the manicured path towards the field, Fang fell into step with Vanille. "Buck up," she said. Vanille looked up in confusion, but Fang was already digging into the pocket of her sports bag. "Here ya go." She handed Vanille a granola bar.

Vanille looked between it and her in surprise. "Are you sure?"

"'Course I am," Fang said with a smile. "Believe me, I know what it's like to miss the breakfast bell." 

Vanille hesitated for half a second before accepting it. "Thank you!" Her voice was bright but Fang could tell she was genuinely flustered. She brushed it aside. Vanille would figure out that everyone hated waking up this early soon enough. 

Well, almost everyone. The early-morning freaks were walking ahead of them, still talking cheerfully. Ye gods, Snow had a _spring_ in his step. Criminal.

"Did you sleep well?" Vanille asked. She was holding her granola bar with two hands. 

"Not nearly long enough, I'll tell you that," Fang said. "You?" 

"Not bad!" Vanille said, and Fang felt her eyebrows go up at such an obvious lie. She could see the dark thumbprints in the delicate skin below Vanille's eyes. 

"Here." Fang fished her water bottle out of her bag. She had filled it at breakfast.

"Oh! T-thank you!" Vanille took a sip and Fang watched her curiously. The word was, Vanille was technically a sophomore, a transfer from another school. Was she not used to her teammates looking out for her? 

_That would explain why she transferred. _

"So what's your position, rookie?" 

"I'm a pitcher!" Vanille's mouth was full and her cheeks were puffed out like a chipmunk. 

"Are you really?" Fang studied her curiously. Slight build, sinewy and tough. Not built for power at all. Definitely a junkball pitcher, that was to say, a pitcher with a lot of trick pitches. "What's your special pitch?"

"I'm a knuckleballer." 

Fang's eyebrows jumped again. Knuckleball pitchers were rare. It was such a difficult pitch to master with any kind of consistency. They needed their own special catchers half the time because it was a pitch that was so notoriously hard to catch for. She looked Vanille over again. "Well, well. Looks like my morning just got a lot more interesting."

Vanille giggled and for some reason it gave Fang a sense of deja vu. She couldn't help but smile in return. They shuffled along sleepily together at the back of the group and by the time they reached the field, Fang had convinced her to polish off another granola bar.

"Okay rookie," Fang called later as she was crouched in the bullpen. The first of their week of two-a-day practices was underway. All around them, their teammates were throwing to each other, getting warmed up. "Show me what you got!"

Vanille stood up on the pitcher's mound, her hair burnished in the bright morning sun of late summer. Even from this distance, Fang could see her squinting against the light. She wound up and threw. 

The pitch was way outside the box; Fang's leg swept out to help her keep her balance as she made the catch. "Sorry!" Vanille called, her voice bright. "Still getting warmed up I guess!"

The next pitch also went wide. And the next. Finally, on ball four, Fang called, "You know what? We don't have to see the knuckler right away. Show me another pitch." 

"What do you wanna see?" 

"How about your heater?" Fang made the sign for a fastball. A smirk crept into her voice. "If you have one, that is." 

"Hmph!" Vanille was actually pouting like a damn five-year-old. "I have a great heater, I'll have you know."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Fang teased. She opened and closed her glove like the mouth of some big fish. "Come on then, sock it to me."

There was something different in Vanille's stance this time as she tucked her throwing hand into her glove. Even from this distance, Fang could see her exhale heavily. She took a moment to gather herself and threw. The pitch traveled straight down the middle and landed in Fang's glove with a satisfying thwack! 

If they were in a game situation, that would have been a line drive to center for sure. It had gone right into the box, and wasn't anywhere near fast enough to be a challenging hit. But that wasn't the point. The point was Vanille landed one in the strike zone.

"Good job." Fang made sure her tone was perfectly nice. "Show me another." 

After another fastball, Fang called, "Let's see a curve, yeah?" and showed the sign for it. Since it was only the first day for training camp, Vanille was still getting up to speed on all the signs. 

The pitch Vanille threw was snaking wide—_way off_, Fang started to think. Then "oof!" because ball had hit the fingers of her glove and bounced off. Her bare hand snapped out, swiping it out of the dirt. Huh. She hadn't been ready for it swing back into the strike zone there, breaking about as late as any curveball she'd ever seen. 

"You okay?" Vanille called.

"All good," Fang called back. "Shoulda seen that coming. That one's on me." She tossed the ball back easily.

"Or maybe..." Vanille began cheekily. "I tricked you on purpose." 

"I'm on your team!" Fang protested, deliberately keeping her tone light. "What're you trying to trick me for?"

"So you'll take me seriously of course." And there was something sharp under the glitter of Vanille's posture. 

Fang felt her respect for this scrawny transfer being to climb. "Fair enough." She settled deeper into her stance. "Show me that one again." 

Vanille didn't have as much power as Yuj, their current starting pitcher. But she had a good variety of pitches, not just that wicked curveball. She was gonna make a good relief pitcher if that was what Sazh was thinking. The knuckleball though, that seemed to be taking a long time to settle in. By the end of warmup, Vanille was landing them in the strike zone but they would have been laughingly easy to hit. Oh well, Fang thought as they ran to line up for batting practice. It's only the first day after all. 

The automaton pitcher danced and spun in the air as Fang took her stance behind home plate. She breathed in and felt her body respond, her focus growing laser sharp. Anticipation rose in her. Hitting a ball was easy. She could get hits all day. Nothing was simpler than this. 

The ball was spat towards her. She lined up her shot and swung, knocking it between 2nd and 3rd, taking off for 1st base like a shot. She took off running, buzzing with satisfaction. 

"Nice hit," Lightning told her quietly, later, as she fell back into line. 

"Thanks Light." They both watched where Snow was walking up to the plate, casting a long shadow in the mid-morning sun. _Fucker was always way too tall for his own good,_ Fang thought cheerfully. 

The pitch the automaton spat out was far outside the box and Fang had time to think _Don't swing!_ before Snow was knocking it towards the fence. The shot had been a hiccup, too far outside the strike zone for anyone else to have even a prayer of hitting it. Snow's hit landed over the fence, outta the park.

Fang whistled in appreciation as Snow turned back to the rest of the team and lifted his arms in the air. There was a smattering of applause, especially enthusiastic from his friends, as well as from Serah, who was waiting on deck. Snow was facing the rest of the lineup and couldn't see her but she was staring up at him as though the sun shone out of that great big ass. It _could_ be that Serah just had a slow swing and she was impressed by a more talented teammate but... Fang chuckled to herself before changing a glance sideways at Lightning. Yup, judging by that scowl, she was seeing it too. _Someone's got a crush._

"He's something special isn't he?" Vanille commented, somewhat to Fang's surprise. 

"He's the best!" Maqui crowed, hearing Vanille. Fuck her, but the kid's voice was cracking. You'd think by 20 he'd be done with all that. Lightning scoffed loudly and Fang chuckled louder. 

After they were done practicing with the automaton, Yuj took the mound and Snow got in the catcher's box. Coach Sazh came up to her, Vanille in tow, his trained chocobo chick fluttering after them. "If we really gonna have her as a relief pitcher, we're gonna need to get her her own catcher," he said. "You know that right?"

"I figured." Fang gave Vanille a smile and she beamed back. 

"Good. Good." Sazh placed his hand on Vanille's shoulder. "How you doing so far? You feeling loose?"

"Aye aye, Coach!" Vanille saluted him. 

"Alright, we'll go through the batting order one more time and then you're on. Be ready." 

"Ladies first," she told Vanille, and giggling, Vanille fell in line ahead of her.

Yuj was pretty level headed, for a pitcher. It helped that he had a good working relationship with both the starting catchers, though he and Snow got along the best. It helped they were in some kind of polyamorous bromance off the field as well. But he was decent. Consistent as a pitcher, could take a little tough love, if Fang ever needed to give it. Also had a hell of a sinker, one she still struggled to get a handle on, even after a year of catching it. 

On deck, she watch Vanille take the plate. Yuj showed her a fastball to start and she sat on it, watching it all the way into Snow's mitt. The second pitch was that sinker, which Vanille watched drop right out of the strike zone, Snow's mitt in the dirt as he made the catch. Snow called for a sinker one more time and Fang felt a thrill of surprise when Vanille swung for it and actually made contact. The resulting grounder darted between 1st and 2nd, dribbling as it reached the outfield and forcing Serah to go running for it, giving Vanille time to reach 1st. 

_Alright,_ Fang thought, stepping up to the plate. _If she can hit it, so can I. _

Unfortunately, the problem with working closely with a pitcher for a year was that they knew exactly how to shut you down. Fang got a hit after two strikes, a weak dribbler than Snow dove on immediately, launching it to 1st before she was even halfway there.

"Better luck next time!" Vanille called as she retreated back to her base. 

"You always fall for that," Lightning commented and Fang gave her a light shove with her shoulder. 

Vanille, Fang discovered as the day went on, was different than almost every other pitcher she'd ever caught for. She was just so cheerful in the face of everything, even when the 3rd person had gotten a flyball off her knuckler.

"Good job Lebreau!" she called as the teammate in question shot past 1st base. It was for all the world as if Lebreau's hit hadn't put two runners in scoring position. Fang, acting on her catcher's instinct, called a timeout. 

"Alright there, rookie?" she asked, approaching the pitcher's mound. 

"Of course!" Vanille studied her face with surprising focus. "Are you alright?"

"Oh don't you worry about me." Fang watched Vanille watch her and wondered what she'd done to merit such intense scrutiny. "You need a moment?"

"Nope," Vanille said firmly. "I'm ready when you are." 

It was Fang's turn to study her now, trying to decide if she was being serious. Was she just trying to look good in front of the new teammates? Vanille accepted the attention patiently, swaying slightly, her hands tucked behind her back. Her nose was slightly pink again. 

"Wear more sunscreen," Fang said. "Can't have you getting heat stroke out here."

A startled expression flickered over Vanille's face but she recovered quickly. "Yes ma'am!" 

Fang smiled. _Stubborn girl._ "If we don't strike out the next batter, I'm gonna personally smear sunscreen all over your face." 

Vanille's eyes widened and then she balled her fists determinedly, her face brightening. "Okay!"

They got Lumina out using Vanille's wicked curveball and Fang felt weirdly proud. 

"So how'd you hit it?" Fang asked as they were heading off to lunch. Vanille looked up at her in surprise and it occurred to Fang, not for the first time, that her eyes were very green. 

"What, Yuj's sinker?"

"Yeah."

"Well it's easy," and somehow Vanille's tone didn't hold a hint of irony. "That sinker drops 9 inches further than a regular fastball right?" 

"Right."

"And my strike zone's much smaller than yours is!" Vanille clapped her hands, once, for emphasis. "Viola!" 

Fang laughed. It was a remarkably simple explanation. But still, "Are you sure you didn't just outclass me?"

"I reckon you'll get it next time," Vanille said brightly. "I was watching you at bat. You're a great hitter."  
It was more flattery but Fang felt herself grin anyway. "You're damn right." 

"Oh, Fang? One more thing?" Vanille asked as they were about to enter the cafeteria. Fang was holding the door open for her. 

"Yeah?"

"I'm not a rookie." And as Vanille sashayed past her, Fang stared after her. There was another thrill of surprise in her stomach.


	2. In Which Fang Is One Tall Motherfucker

The last night of training camp found Fang, Lightning, Serah and Lumina sitting on the bleachers, watching the twilight overtake the sunset. Lumina and Serah were arguing about who was in their fantasy league. Fang was nursing a beer, watching over Lightning's shoulder as she actually set up her own fantasy draft. She was drifting slowly from contentedness into boredom, and was considering asking Serah about Snow just so she could have the fun of tormenting Light, when a voice rang out from down below.

"Hi!" And Vanille was waving up at them, holding a 6-pack. 

"Hi!" Serah waved back.

"Took you long enough to get here." Fang patted the bleachers next to her for Vanille to come sit next to her. "Whatcha got there?" 

"Carlton's." Vanille turned her wrist so the name was clearly visible. Fang sat up straighter.

"Are you for real? How did you get that?" 

"I wished for it." Vanille's tone was light as always, but Fang was quickly learning to recognize when her pitcher had something else going on in her head. She opted not to comment at the moment and focused on the beer itself.

"What is that?" Lightning leaned around her to get a better look.

"It's only the most patriotic beer of the homeland, mate." Fang put an ironic tone on it as she reached out. Vanille obligingly pulled one off of the pack and handed it to her. It was still cold. "Ahhhhh." She made eye contact with Vanille and lifted her can, in a toast to her. "You're a real one."

"Just happy to help."

"Did you hear our friendly match is against Lake Bresha?" Lightning asked, forcing Fang to look away from Vanille.

Fang made a grunt of annoyance through her sip. 

"What's wrong with Lake Bresha?" Serah looked between them in confusion.

Fang paused from her drink long enough to say, "Place is haunted."

"What?" Serah and Lumina said in unison, Lumina looking intrigued and Serah looking startled. 

Fang shrugged. "Place is haunted."

"It's not haunted," Lightning chided. Her tone was perfectly flat and reasonable. "It's radioactive."

"What!" Serah squeaked. Behind her, Fang watched Lumina recover from the shock more quickly, her eyes absolutely gleaming.

"Gosh," she said. "That sounds _ spooky _. I can't wait to see it." Fang was rapidly discovering that Lumina liked anything she considered spooky.

"Are we going to have to wear special suits when we go?" Serah looked so genuinely concerned.

"No, it's been cleared for human occupation," Lightning said. Her face softened a little as she looked at her sister. "Don't worry." 

"Still," Fang put in. "Don't drink the water."

"That part is true," Lightning acknowledged. "Don't drink the water."

"I could purify the water..." Vanille said thoughtfully, almost to herself. Fang tipped her head back to look at her. 

"What's that?"

"I said, I bet I could purify the water." Vanille cocked her head as she looked down at Fang and Fang became aware of being scrutinized.

"Could you?" Fang cocked her head in the opposite direction, just to tease. 

"I'm a witch you know."

Fang raised an eyebrow at this, and then lifted her head to see if any of the others had heard, but Serah and Lumina were too busy grilling Lightning about Lake Bresha. Lightning appeared to be threatening Lumina against stealing something. 

"_ Are _ you?" she asked, turning back to Vanille. Witches were rare these days, and even rarer in cities. There just wasn't that many people powerful in the Old Ways. 

"Mmhm!" Vanille nodded emphatically. 

Fang turned this over in her mind, trying to decide if Vanille was being serious. "So when you said you wished of this..." She lifted her can of Carlton's lazily. 

"I did," Vanille tilted her head as far as it would go, apparently in an attempt to make her gaze align with Fang's. "And it showed up!" Her pigtails swayed, brushing Fang's face. Fang made herself breathe through it. She hadn't got this far in life by buckling every time a pretty girl sat close to her. Oh, Vanille was talking again. "Isn't that awesome?"

"It is that." Fang forced herself to long enough to take another sip of beer. "So what did your old teammates think the witch stuff? Did they love it?"

"Um..." And she watched in surprise as Vanille tapped her fingers together nervously. It was the first time Fang had seen her look anything other than 100% positive. "Don't worry about it." 

That got Fang's attention. She sat up all the way so she could turn and look at Vanille properly. "What did you do? Did you hex someone?"

"No! Nothing like that. Um..." Vanille was actually fidgeting. Huh. Fang watched her closely. 

"Sorry, do you not want to talk about it?" 

"It's not important." Vanille smiled at her brightly. 

"Sounds important to me." 

Vanille's eyes searched her face again. The night had settled in properly, but the field lights had come on and the harsh light gave her face an ethereal quality. Then she smiled again. "As long as you don't try to get me to use magic in a game, we're good." 

Ah. Fang took another sip of the Carlton's with deliberate nonchalance. "Don't need to use a spell when you've got a knuckleball, am I right?"

Vanille's grin took on a more genuine cast. "Damn right!" 

"Hey," Lightning leaned over, into their conversation and the moment between Fang and Vanille was shattered. "I'm taking the girls to the bar. You wanna come?"

Fang and Vanille looked at each other. "I'm in," Fang said, watching Vanille. "You coming?"

"If it's okay?"

"Of course it's okay." Fang looked at her suspiciously. "Unless you secretly don't like us."

"No, no!" Vanille waved her hands in front of her, denying it. "Of course I like you guys!"

"'Cause you can be honest if you think we’re weird," Fang drawled, grinning now. "Lumina's pretty fucked."

"Lumina's pretty fucked." Lumina called in a poor imitation of Fang's accent. Vanille just giggled and Fang felt satisfied. 

They congregated in Serah and Lumina's room, getting ready for a night out on the town. Fang, who was never one for dressing up much, settled for wetting her hands with water and mousse before running them through her hair. This was still more prep than Lightning, who just watched her from the entrance of the bathroom. Fang caught her eye in the mirror. 

"What do you think?" she asked jokingly. 

"Looks like you," Lightning said. Fang took it as a compliment. 

"Can I at least do your eyebrows, Light?" Serah called from where she was currently braiding Lumina's hair. 

Lightning considered this. "how long is this going to take?"

"I can do it super quick!"

"You'll like it light," Lumina said in a voice that was weirdly certain. "Trust me."

"Are we going brows now?" Vanille called in the doorway. She had a few different clothes thrown over her arm. "Can I help?" 

"I think it's kind of a one-person job..." Serah said.

"I could do yours Fang!" 

Fang felt the eyebrows in question go up. "Well why not. Could be fun, right?"

"Yeah!" Then,"Oh by the way," Vanille said. "Does anyone have a flannel shirt I could borrow? I've got a look in mind." 

"I don't wear a lot of flannel," Lightning said. 

"I do," Fang said. I'll get it for you." 

"Thanks!" 

Fang fished a few options out of her dresser in her own room. She mostly tended to wear darker clothes, and that didn't seem to fit Vanille's whole vibe but she did find a faded blue plaid one that Vanille said would be perfect. 

"I'll be right back okay?" She was holding it excitedly in both hands. "Just you go sit yourself down and get comfortable." It occurred to Fang that Vanille someone who was determined to enjoy life as much as she possibly could.

Fang chuckled to herself as she went back to join the other girls. Lightning and Serah were already seated cross legged on Serah's bed, Serah delicately holding a straight razor between her fingers. 

"You never do your eyebrows when I'm not here," Serah was chiding gently. 

"Why would I?" Lightning said, sitting calm and still as though someone wasn't holding a razor centimeters from her eyes. 

"Can't have sister bonding if your sister's not here," Lumina chimed in from where she was sprawled on her own bed. 

A smile twitched the corners of Lightning's mouth. "Yeah. That." 

"Alright, I'm ready!" And Vanille was standing in the doorway. 

That. Fang's brain blinked out for a moment. 

"What do you think?" Vanille gave a twirl, showing off the look from all sides. 

Hm yeah, Fang thought intelligently. That. 

Vanille was wearing a pink crop top and short shorts with Fang's plaid shirt tied around her waist. 

"You look so cute!" Serah's voice cut through her haze. Fang gave herself a mental shake and settled back into her usual self-assuredness. 

"Someone's sure ready to hit the pub." Her eyes settled on the l'Cie ball cap, definitely the safest part of the outfit. "And I do like that you're representing the team."

"Always gotta represent the team." Vanille put on an air of lecturing. "That's what Coach would say."

"He does say that," Fang acknowledged, doing her best to look Vanille over without being too obvious about it. It was hard when the person was standing right in front of you and also looking at you. Fang schooled her expression down as Vanille started eyeing her more sternly.

"Now. Who needs their eyebrows done?" 

Fang sat in one desk chair and Vanille sat in the other, pulling in so that their knees were touching. It was definitely worse to have to see Vanille's outfit up close. Better, absolutely, but also worse. Fang held herself perfectly still as Vanille put her hands to her face and tried not to think about the lean muscles in her arms or the flex of her stomach. 

You have been a lesbian all your life, mate. Get a grip. 

"You've got such a nice natural shape," Vanille told her, and Fang just opted to close her eyes. She was starting to notice freckles on Vanille's skin and everyone knew that if a girl was unbelievably pretty, the least you could do in return was to not be creepy about it.

"Thanks. I think," she said instead.

"We're just gonna clean it up a bit," Vanille continued and Fang felt her skin being pulled taught before the scrape of the razor along her brow bone. 

"Gonna make me look hot, are you?" 

"Not hot." Fang made the mistake of opening her eyes and Vanille was tapping her lip with her index finger. "But, more like...polished, you know?"

With a gargantuan effort Fang resisted the urge to ask if Vanille thought she was already hot. She closed her eyes again.

"Are you almost ready?" Lumina said. "We're gonna miss karaoke!"

"I didn't know there was karaoke!" Vanille's voice was piping with excitement but her hands remained calm and steady on Fang's face. 

"Tell me you're not singing," came Lightning's voice. 

"Light. Of course I'm singing," Lumina said, and Fang could hear Lightning sigh. 

"All good!" Vanille's hands retreated and Fang could hear her sitting back. She opened her eyes again to see Vanille surveying her handywork. She nodded emphatically. "I did a good job, if I say so myself."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Fang teased, reaching for her phone. Examining herself in the camera, she was forced to admit; yeah, she did look better. 

That was when Vanille leaned in and put her chin on Fang's shoulder. "Are we taking a selfie?"

Fang kept her tone light and even. "We are now." 

They both paused together to examine the resulting picture.

"We look so cute!" Vanille said and Fang certainly wasn't going to deny it.

"Ready?" Lightning was already standing in the doorway.

"Yeah," Fang said. They rose. "Let's go." 

The pub had Fang and Lightning's usual haunt since freshmen year, before they started getting along even. This place had tacky carpets and gaudy light fixtures and loud patrons, of all ages, many of whom came in with the dirt still on their shoes. Both Fang and Lightning felt more comfortable among this crowd than they did in the sports bars that were so popular with Snow and all his pets. Though those bars did have their value. Like if you needed to watch a rugby game and couldn't get a decent bootleg stream online. 

As they all settled in at the bar, Fang ordered them a pitcher of beer, and Lumina led Serah by the hand to sign up for karaoke, Vanille skipping after them. 

"So what do you think?" Lightning asked, where she was sitting on Fang's right, her eyes on her sister and cousin.

"What, of them?"

"Yeah."

"Is your cousin always that weird?" Fang grinned as she said it. 

Lightning's mouth twitched. "I meant, what do you think of them as athletes. But yes. She is." She glanced at where the three girls were pouring over the karaoke sign up sheet. Then she looked back at Fang and there was a softness around the eyes. "She's a good kid though. You get used to it."

Fang conceded the point. From what she'd seen in the past week, Lumina was one of the very people who ever seemed to understand what was going on in Light's head. "Good player though," she said. "Good reflexes. Give her a few more years and she could play the whole outfield."

Lightning hummed in agreement. "She did in high school." She took a moment to take a sip of her beer. "What about Serah?"

"She's a tough one, I'll give her that." Fang weighed her words thoughtfully, mindful of Lightning's appreciation for honesty versus her fierce protectiveness of her sister. "I reckon...she's gotta be given a chance to grow. She's been wasted in right." At this level there were enough left handed batters that a good right fielder was invaluable. Problem was, most kids who had been stuck in right their whole grade school career were unused to suddenly getting that much action. Still, you didn't make the varsity team if you weren't fucking good, no matter who your sister was.

"You might have a point." The two of them stilled for a moment as the other three came prancing back. 

"We're number four in the line," Serah informed them, slipping back into her seat. Her eyes were bright and there was color on her cheeks. 

"What are you gonna sing?" Fang asked. 

"You'll see. It's gonna be a surprise," Lumina sing-songed. 

Hopefully something that'll play well in this crowd, Fang thought. She personally had nothing wrong with bubble gum pop but she'd seen more than one fresh faced college kid get heckled in here. 

"I texted Snow," Serah said, clearly aiming for nonchalant as she reached for her beer. Fang, holding her own glass up to her mouth, struggled not to laugh. 

"You did what?" Lighting growled and Fang snorted. She watched Lightning's face struggle between demanding to know why Serah had Snow's number and why she would do something so criminal as invite him to the bar. 

"He was asking what I was up to!" Serah said defensively. "I told him he should come join us!"

Fang and Vanille made eye contact and grinned at each other. Fang got Lightning's annoyance—Snow was best enjoyed in small doses and this bar was their place—but she sounded so scandalized and it was just so fucking funny.

Vanille leaned in conspiringly. "You think they'll be sleeping together soon?"

Fang glanced behind them to where Lightning and Serah having a domestic about who Serah could and couldn't hang out with. "You gotta assume it'll be by the end of the month."

Vanille giggled. "You really do."

Regardless of what anyone thought on the subject, the damage was done. The boys where on their way. According to Serah, they could expect about 20 minutes of peace and quiet before the street tram dumped Snow Villiers on their doorstep, where he would no doubt immediately find a reason to piss off one of the regulars. Fang was fully prepared to try and put it out of her mind for the moment but then suddenly Serah was sliding off her seat and heading irritably for the bathroom. 

"Good going Light," Lumina said. 

"Don't talk to me." Lightning was sulking. 

"Jealousy's not a good look on you, don't you think?" Lumina said with barbed sweetness before following to the bathroom after Serah. 

There was a period of about 30 seconds where the three of them sat in loaded silence, Lightning's posture tense as hell. Then she wordlessly slid off her seat and headed for the rear exit of the bar.

"Hey!" Vanille called. Lightning didn't look back. Vanille turned to Fang. "Should we follow after her?"

Fang gave a slight shake of her head. "She'll be fine. She just needs a minute." They both looked at each other as Vanille considered it.

"At least they'll make a cute couple?" she offered finally. Fang snorted.

"Can't say I see the appeal myself." She gave Vanille the once-over thoughtfully. "Is he your type?"

"What, Snow?" Vanille looked surprised that Fang was even asking. "Of course not!" She squinted at Fang in mock annoyance. "Hey, who do you think I am anyway?"

Fang snorted. "Right, sorry, I have no idea what I was thinking." They both drank in silence for a moment before Fang said "Do you play fantasy league?"

Vanille lit up. "I sure do!" She fished her phone out of her pocket. "Wanna see my team?"

"Absolutely." Vanille passed her phone over and Fang scrolled through the roster thoughtfully. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

"What?"

"You're such a pitcher."

"What's that supposed to mean?" But her eyes were bright so Fang was going to assume she didn't take any real offense.

"Your pitching rotation has such care put into it. But where's your defense? Where're your sluggers?" She showed Vanille the screen where she'd brought up the batting rotation.

"You don't need sluggers!" Vanille insisted. "You just need people who can get on base. Besides," as she reached out to top up her beer. "If you go after the sluggers, everyone will be fighting for the same players and it'll be harder to get the people you want. But, if you just look at the one-base percentage...Well, you'll always be able to find new players, even late in the season." 

Fang considered this. Not her usual strategy but not a bad idea. "You might be onto something there," she admitted. "I've gotten my first round picks sniped this year."

"What are we talking about?" And just like that, Lumina and Serah were back from the ladies' room. 

"Baseball of course!" Vanille said before any pause in the conversation could make it awkward. 

"Of course," Lumina said with a smile. "Ball is life, as they say."

"Ball is life," Serah echoed, trying to put some feeling into it.

"I think it's about time for some tequila, ladies," Fang said raising her hand to get the bartenders attention. "How does that sound?"

"We've never had tequila before." Serah watched the bartender arrive with the salt and limes curiously.

"Is that right?" Fang took a moment to remind herself that in all likelihood these girls had just reached legal age this year.

"We'll show you how," Vanille put in. "It's much nicer to do it properly. Tequila straight just tastes nasty."

Fang conceded that it tasted way better with the salt and lime. "Alright," she said as the bartender poured out five shots (she'd ordered one for Lightning as well). "You gotta lick your hand so the salt sticks..." 

"You ever lick the salt off someone else?" Vanille asked, startling her. The Farron girls were studiously salting their own wrists, and didn't here. Fang looked at her.

"Not in a while, if I'm honest," she said. "You?"

Vanille looked thoughtful. "I'm trying to remember. It's been a long time since I've done a body shot though." Fang was trying to decide if she was getting hit on right now when Vanille refocused on her face and smiled. "Well, we gotta have a big team party sometime! I'm just gonna have to look forward till then."

Fang smiled in spite of herself. "I reckon you will." She'd be looking forward to seeing that herself. She turned back to the other two. "You ready?"

She had to hand it to the younger girls as the four of them clinked their glasses and knocked the tequila back. They took it like champions. Definitely related to Lighting. Lumina let out a loud, smacking "ahhhh!" , and Serah just licked her lips thoughtfully.

"That was pretty fun actually," she told Fang, looking genuinely more positive than she had minutes ago. Her eyes were a little unfocused though.

So were Lumina's. "I'm definitely starting to feel the alcohol," she said with a giggle.

That was the moment the karaoke coordinator chose to call, "Lumina Farron?" They all turned in response. "You're on deck."

"Let's go, let's go!" Lumina ushered Serah and Vanille up off their seats. Vanille turned back to Fang with a twirl.

"Wish us luck!" She gave a wink, probably to be dramatic.

"Shake a leg."

"It's break a leg," Vanille corrected.

"Isn't that worse?"

"It's good luck, silly." And she was gone, sashaying up to stage before Fang had time to remember why breaking a leg was supposed to be good luck.

She was distracted anyway by Lightning returning from the smoke pit. Lightning herself didn't smoke (why pick up a habit that could ruin your ball career?) but people in the smoke pit generally understood if you didn't want to talk to anyone. Fang just gave her a nod of acknowledgement as she sat back down. 

"This for me?" Lighting's fingers curled delicately around the tequila shot.

"Yep."

Lighting offered her a smile. "Thanks." She did her shot with characteristic efficiency and closed her eyes, savoring the tasted. They both turned to look back at the stage where Vanille, Serah, and Lumina were enthusiastically belting about how man, they all felt like women. 

"I think I've heard this one before." Fang commented. "Is it popular?"

"Dunno," Lightning said. "I have definitely heard this one before."

They both had returned to finishing up their beer more or less contentedly when Fang's ears caught the sound of the front door to the bar opening. Ye gods. Snow was here.

You could see the change in Serah's face when she saw him because her eyes went a little wide and she gave a tiny little wave. Lumina and Vanille, on either side of her, seemed blessedly unaffected. Snow's crew descended on where she and Lightning sat at the bar. 

"Hey Light, hey Fang," Snow said cheerfully. 

"Hey big guy," Fang said, tone even. Lightning was stiff beside her.

"Hi."

Fang made eye contact with Yuj and Lebreau, who were reasonable people at least, and gave them a smile. "Nice night."

"It sure is," Yuj agreed pleasantly. 

"Hey man," Gadot was saying, a hand on Snow's shoulder. "Let's get a table. There's not room for all of us up here." 

"Yeah, good idea." And they retreated to a nearby booth, one that had a good view of both the bar and the stage. Lebreau gave them a little wave as she went to sit along side them. 

Lightning's posture relaxed minutely only to stiffen again a moment later when Serah and Lumina and Vanille all finished their song. Fang clapped loudly in support and Snow at the other table put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. The three girls came down from the stage and while Vanille returned to the bar (Fang gave her a fist bump), Serah took Lumina by the hand and led her shyly over to talk to Snow and his friends. Lightning ordered another beer.

"You a big karaoke fan?" Fang asked Vanille, ignoring Lightning's sulk. Vanille nodded.

"I used to do it all the time back home." She picked up a menu and began examining it. "Not much else to do in a small town on a Friday night, you know?"

Fang could definitely relate to this. "Besides practice witchcraft you mean?" But she softened it with a smile.

"I'm a witch all days of the week," Vanille told her, sticking out her tongue. "That's how it works."

Fang hummed. "I went to a witch doctor as a girl, you know." 

"Really?" Vanille's eyes were round.

"Yeah. My mother and the other bikers preferred them actually. Said you couldn't trust those city doctors to know what you needed."

Vanille absorbed this before tilting her head to the side curiously. "The other bikers?"

"What, did I not mention them earlier?" She smiled. "The biker gang?"

"No you didn't!" Vanille leaned forward. "That sounds amazing!" 

Fang grinned, showing all her teeth. "It sure is." She felt a pang of longing to be out there with them, away from all this bullshit civilization, but she pushed it aside. "So anyway, I've got a lot of respect for witches. They do good work." 

"We really do," Vanille agreed and Fang grinned again at the totally lack of modesty. "Of course, these days half our job is just to keep the old ways alive." 

"What're you gonna do at Lake Bresha then?" Fang had been meaning to get back to this. "How're you gonna purify the water?"

"I've got a ritual for it," Vanille explained. "All I need left to do is go to the grocery store." 

"The grocery store? For what?"

"I need salt," Vanille said firmly as though it was the most natural thing in the world. And, honestly, when Fang considered the doctors she'd gone to in her upbringing...maybe it was. 

"Tell you what," she said, glancing at the bar clock, which was just visible through all the other decorations on the wall. "There's a 24 hour one down the road a few, why don't we go there now?" 

"Now? Are you sure?" Vanille glanced over at where Serah and Lumina had been absorbed into their teammate's booth, squished in next to Maqui and Yuj. Her gaze moved to over Fang's shoulder and Fang turned back too to look at Lightning who was moodily staring into the distance, nursing her beer. Fang debated for a second on whether or not to invite her along or whether she just needed to be left alone right now. 

She was saved the choice when Lumina got up from the booth and walked up to Lightning determinedly. "We need to talk," she said firmly. 

"What do you want." Lightning's tone was so flat it didn't sound like a question.

"Not here." Lumina jerked her head. "In the bathroom." 

There was a long moment where they just looked at each other, and then to Fang's surprise, Lightning actually backed down. "Fine." And she slid off her seat to follow her cousin.

"Well, that takes care of them, doesn't it?" Fang turned back to Vanille. "You wanna get out of here?"

Vanille stared at Fang's face for a beat too long. It made Fang feel the need to keep perfectly still. Possibly Vanille was trying to decide if she was serious? Then she nodded. "Yeah."

Fang grinned. "Great." She turned on her stool towards the bartender. "Can I get the bill down here mate?" 

The street tram was about a two minute walk from the bar. The night had grown cold and as they waited, Vanille untied Fang's shirt from around her waist and put it on. Fang smiled to herself. It had been a long time since a pretty girl had worn her clothes.

Another person, an older man joined them at the stop and Fang ignored him. Vanille was shivering. "You still cold?" she asked quietly. 

"Only a little bit." Vanille smiled up at her.

"You could do up the buttons you know."

"I wanna look cute." 

Fang rolled her eyes tolerantly. "I promise you will still look cute." 

Vanille just folded her arms definitely. "But I won't look as cute."

"What if I told you, you will still look as cute?"

Vanille tossed her hair. "Mmph!" And Fang chuckled.

There was a comfortable silence and Fang took the chance to check her phone. She had a text from Lightning, asking where they were. She fired off a quick reply, her attention temporarily diverted.

It was only after the text was sent and she was refocusing on her surroundings that she realized the man at the stop with them was talking to Vanille. Her brain caught up with what was going on and she realized she'd already missed the first thing he'd said.

"So are you a student?" he was in the middle of saying now.

"Um, yeah!" Vanille's usual brightness was a little shaky. Fang frowned. 

"What's your name?" 

Vanille hesitated for the tiniest fraction before saying, "It's Vanille..."

"You waiting for your man to come pick you up?"

"She doesn't want to be your friend, mate," Fang cut in. Vanille looked back at her in surprise.

The man eyed Fang carefully and not for the first time, Fang was glad that she was one tall motherfucker. "I'm just making conversation," he said, defiantly. 

Fang took a step closer so that she wasn't exactly between Vanille and the guy but that she was as close to him. She could certainly get there quickly if she had to. "I said," she repeated. "She doesn't want to be your friend."

"Aren't I allowed to be friendly?" But Fang was gratified when he took a step back. "I'm just waiting for the tram."

"You can wait in quiet." Fang said firmly. 

"Why?" The man was starting to get annoyed now. "Am I bothering you?"

"Yes." And when the man's eyes went to Vanille, Fang put her arm on Vanille's shoulder. 

"Am I bothering you too?" 

Vanille, to Fang's surprise, brought up a hand to lace it between Fang's fingers. "Yes," she said with nod.

The man's mouth open and closed a few times but he went quiet, retreating further down the road with a muttered "well fuck you then." And when the tram finally came, Fang made sure they jumped on the opposite end from him.

"You didn't have to do that," Vanille murmured, cozied against Fang's side in the midst of the crowd. Fang shrugged.

"He was bothering you."

Vanille smiled softly. "Well, thanks then."

The convenience store was a short ride away and Vanille held her hand for support as they hopped off. The bell dinged as they entered. "I'm just gonna be real quick," Vanille assured her as they began to poke around down the aisles.

"Hey, it's no skin off my nose how long this takes," Fang said easily. Vanille smiled at her and then her attention was turned to looking on the shelves for the household goods.

"Oh, we should get snacks." She selected a bag of chips off the shelf and examined it. 

"I'm never never going to say no to snacks," Fang agreed. She examined the shelves herself but nothing seemed to catch her eye. 

"I know!" Vanille's voice had that excited bent. "We should get cereal. That way we can sleep in and miss breakfast!" 

This was the best idea Fang had heard all night. "Love where your head's at." She reached to the top shelf. "Which one do you want?"

"Let's get more than one!" 

"I'll get the cereal, do you wanna find the salt?" 

"Sure!" 

They paid for their food and Vanille's salt and waited for their tram on the other side of the street with Fang having stubbornly insisted on carrying the grocery bags.

"Oh Serah's texting me," Vanille said. "Looks like their doing karaoke again."

"Bet Light's loving that."

"I think she's being too bossy," Vanille said decisively. 

Fang turned this over. "You're not wrong...but Light's— well she's really protective of her sister. They didn't get to see each other as much when Light was in the army." Lightning had started university later than she should have, riding on a solider's scholarship. The fact that she and Serah got to be in school together now was sacred to her.

Vanille appeared to ponder this too. "Well I hope they can work it out. It's gonna make things really awkward for the team if she and Serah and Snow are fighting!"

"Don't I know it." Personally she was not broken up to have left the family drama behind at the bar. Much better to be out with Vanille, buying snacks and witchy stuff.

The tram arrived and Vanille's hand slipped back into hers. They jumped on together.

  
  
  



	3. In Which There Is a Ball Game

The first game of the season was an away game. Obviously. Didn't have to worry about the radiation at Lake Bresha if no one was actually going there. The train ride there had been set to every song Maqui could find which contained the word "radioactive." Fang had put her own music in and tuned him out. It was that or throw him out the window. 

  
"Alright squad," Sazh said as they gathered in the foyer of the inn, each with the keys their rooms. "You have your orders. Breakfast is at 8:00 and game is at 10:00. Try to get some sleep." He clapped Lightning on the shoulder. "Captain here will tell you what you need to know for tomorrow."

  
Lightning's posture always had something of her military days in it during these moments. She kept her spine straight and her gaze level as she looked at them all. "Assemble in the lobby at 9:00., in your uniform already. We leave for the field by light rail at 9:05. If you're not there, you're getting left behind." Fang looked over at Maqui who squirmed uncomfortably. 

  
"Don't drink the water. If you run out of the water in your room, you can buy it in the lobby." She took a moment to pause and look at them, impressing the importance of this last part on them. "That's all, Coach."

  
"Alright, you heard the lady," Sazh said. "That's all I have for you. Dismissed!"

  
It was already late in the evening. It took Fang a long time to get herself in the head space to try and start her homework. Lightning, that freak, had her earplugs in and was at her work like a machine. Fang knew her routine by now: she took a five minute break every thirty minutes. Fang had spent approximately one week trying to keep up this rhythm before abandoning it in favor of her own non-routine. Luckily it was still the first week of the semester and all she had to do were short responses.

  
It was something like an hour later when someone knocked on their door. It was Vanille. "Can I do my homework here?" she asked.   
"Yeah, come on in." Fang moved aside so she could get through the door.

Vanille spread herself and her work out on the bed with Fang and they settled back into their routine. In another hour and change, Fang had limped across the finish line on her two assignments for the week. She had other stuff she _could_ start....but why do that?

  
She settled herself back on her pillow and stretched, enjoying the feeling of not having to do anything else tonight. She looked to Lightning who was still hard at work, doubtless on some shit that wouldn't be due for a month. Then she looked back at Vanille who was lying on her stomach, chewing her pen listlessly. Her hair was still damp from the shower and she was cozy in her Cocoon University hoodie. 

  
Fang hesitated for about three seconds before deciding to bother her. "Whatchu doing there?"

  
"Crytobiology," Vanille said, sounding resigned. Then she rolled onto her back, stretched and yawned. "Ahhhh, I don't want to do this."

  
"Don't," Fang said reflexively. She grinned. "Don't you got a ritual to prepare for anyway?" 

  
"Oh I'm not gonna do that till later tonight." Vanille propped her cheek on one hand and looked at her. 

  
"No? Why's that?"

  
"Witches are stronger under the moon," Vanille said dismissively and Fang frowned slightly. There was something in Vanille's tone she couldn't quite place. She let it slide. Who knew what secrets witches were supposed to keep.

  
"What kinda stuff did you prepare?"

  
Vanille started ticking them off on her fingers. "Well, I've got my salt...a bottle of sea water..."

  
"Seawater?"

  
"Mmhm! It's the most magical kind of water there is." There was something to the way Vanille's face lit up as she spoke. This stuff was important to her. "And I've got a compass...."

  
"Now what's that one for?"

  
"To know which way is west!" Vanille had been destined for this stuff, Fang thought. Her enthusiasm was infectious. "Each of the four elements align with a different direction on the compass. West is for water." Fang watched as she paused to count of her fingers, running through her list of supplies in her head. "Oh! And I have some keys."

  
_This_ one Fang knew. "That one's for good luck right?"

  
"You got it!"

  
It was at that moment Lightning's half-hour alarm went off. She took an earbud out. "What are you guys talking about?" 

  
"Witchcraft!" Vanille called before Fang had a chance to reply. She eyed Lightning curiously, wondering how she'd take it.

  
To her mild surprise, Lighting didn't seem phased, though she did twist further in the desk chair to look at them. "You're not lighting any candles are you?" was all she said.

  
"Nope, no candles," Vanille said. "Don't need 'em for this."

  
"Okay." Lightning accepted this with remarkable calm. Then, "Lumina says witchcraft runs in our family."

  
"I noticed that!" Vanille said happily and Fang was totally lost again. There was no way she wouldn't have noticed Lightning was a fucking witch after sharing a room with her for a year. "Does your family have ties to a sisterhood?"

  
Lightning shrugged. "On the weird side of the family, I guess." 

  
There was absolutely no useful comment Fang could contribute here. So, after beat of silence she said, "You almost done your work, Light?" 

  
"I will be soon."

  
"You wanna watch something after?" Fang spun her pen around her fingers idly.

  
Lightning shook her head. "I'm going to go straight to bed after." 

  
"We could watch something in my room," Vanille offered. "I think Lebreau is hanging out in with the boys, so it'll be empty." 

  
Fang smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that. You almost done?"

  
"Um....Give me fifteen more minutes?" 

  
"I can do that." 

  
It wasn't a bad way to spend their first night on the road, Fang reflected. There were worse things in life than flipping through the sports news idly while Vanille tried to decide if what she wanted from the vending machines. And when Fang noticed Vanille's head drooping in sleep a while later, she carefully crept out of the room and turned off the light.  
  
\- -  
There were shuffling sounds out in the hallway. Fang, nudged into semi-wakefulness, frowned. Vanille? Had her rituals summoned something and set it loose in the inn?

  
The shuffling congregated by their door and Fang felt her adrenaline spike, but then she heard giggling. She sighed. Lumina. Of course. Her fears allayed that there was nothing more creepy than a kooky left fielder in the halls tonight, she turned over and went to sleep. 

The next morning, Lightning's alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. and Fang was contemplating murder. "For FUCK'S SAKE!" she growled, pulling her pillow over her face. 

  
"Sorry," Lightning said innocently. "Guess I forgot to turn it off."

  
Fang growled again, muffled though it was. "Go fuck yourself, Farron."

  
Lightning just made a noise that was her version of a laugh and Fang thought, without too much heat, that she missed the Lightning who was too uptight to have a sense of humor. She reached for her phone just to confirm that yep, it was 6:00 in the fucking a.m.  
Oh, a text from Vanille. It had been sent late last night, after Fang had gone to bed.

  
From: Vanille  
_ If you want to sleep in, I got snacks for us. :)_

  
If that wasn't some witch-granting-your-wishes shit, Fang didn't know what was. She mercifully drifted off to sleep again as Lightning began her morning stretches. 

  
Vanille knocked on her door at 8:45, already dressed in her uniform. Fang opened up, in the middle of brushing her teeth, still in her pajamas. "Hey!" Vanille teased as Fang retreated back into the bathroom. "I thought you'd be ready by now!"

  
Fang spat toothpaste into the sink. "Wait till you see how fast I can get dressed." Pulling her shirt off over her head, she set about proving her point. 

  
Fang prided herself on her prep time. It wasn't even five minutes later that she was standing in front of Vanille again in her tank top and uniform pants, fingers whipping her hair into a braid. "What kind of snacks did you get us?" she asked.

  
For some reason she could see Vanille visibly swallow as she looked up at Fang. Then she cleared her throat and Fang thought no more about it. "I've got so much!" She dug into her bag and pulled out a sweet roll and handed it to Fang. Fang accepted it and, after grabbing her uniform shirt off the hanger, opened the door for them. 

  
"You're my new favorite," she said, taking a huge bite of her roll. They stumbled down into the lobby together, trickling in along with the other late risers who had missed breakfast. Fang checked the clock. 8:59. Perfect.

  
It was only after she had put her phone away again that she realized the silence among their team meant something was up. 

  
"Now that we're all here," Coach Sahz was saying. Chocobo was sitting on his head, blinking sleepily and looking very content in his nest of hair. "I have an announcement to make. Last night, the Lake Bresha team mascot went missing from their clubhouse." 

  
Fang raised an eyebrow. She glanced at Vanille, who appeared to be zoning out. 

  
"If any of you happen to see anything in either of the locker rooms today, the other team's coach would just appreciate if we kept an eye out." Sahz looked around at them all for a moment. "The mascot is a Bresha bass. Let me know right away if you think you see something relevant. Understood?" There were nods. "Okay Captain, take us through head count."

  
Lake Bresha was a college town. They didn't have a lot of chances for prestiege in other areas so they aggressively recruited for their sports programs. A lot of talented athletes who didn't have the grades to get into better schools wound up there, playing for the Bresah Bass. They could be aggressive and poor sportsmen but they were nothing compared to Sanctum University, who they'd be playing in a month or two. Fang fucking hated Sanctum University.

  
Lake Bresha College was the only part of town in any decent shape. It was the one thing that stopped Lake Bresha from being identical to all the towns Fang and her mother travelled through with the Oebra Yun bikers. And honestly, having seen what kind of opportunities people in those towns usually had, Fang couldn't fault the college's existence. Even if word was that it only existed because the government felt bad about the whole nuclear fallout thing. 

  
The l'Cie were batting first which was nice for Fang because she wasn't gonna have much to do when they were on defense. Besides warm up in the bullpen. 

  
The sun always seemed weak at Lake Bresha, but that didn't stop the stands from being relatively full. Helped that it was the first game of the season. Half the team hung on the chicken wire in the dugout, watching Noel go up to the plate for the first at-bat. Fang knew the Bass' starting pitcher was a power pitcher; they'd studied his stats before they got here. 

  
Noel sat on the first pitch. _Good boy,_ Fang thought. He swung at the next one and missed. Clearly trying to rein himself in, Noel watched the next on go by again, studying it. Noel wasn't a patient hunter, but he had his moments. The third pitch came. Fang's hands tightened on the chicken wire.

  
Noel swung and got piece of it, the hit a dribbler right to the pitcher who snapped it up. His throw beat Noel to first.

  
"It's okay, it's okay!" Snow called as Noel came sheepishly back to the dugout. "You just gotta work out the nerves, it'll be alright."

  
As they went through the batting order, it slowly became clear to Fang that either the l'Cie were having a really bad day or there was something going on that they weren't ready for. 

  
"Did we have this much trouble last year?" Fang murmured to Lightning, after Maqui got thrown out. She was about to run to the on-deck position. Snow, their clean-up hitter, was taking the plate. 

  
"They didn't have this pitcher last year," Lightning returned, her eyes on the mound. "That's why we didn't have any tape to review of him."

  
"Huh." And Fang took her place on-deck. 

  
She shouldn't have rushed. Snow struck out swinging, effectively ending the top of the first inning. "There's something weird about that fastball," he told Fang as he sat beside her, putting on his catcher's gear.

  
"Do you reckon?"

  
Snow nodded. "Bet on it." He socked his hand into his mitt. 

  
Vanille was going to be closing this game, so she and Fang weren't going to have anything to do on defense for a few innings. They sat side by side and watched their teammates take the field.

  
"Yuj was looking good today," Vanille said.

  
"He was," Fang agreed. 

  
Vanilled nodded. "Yeah!" Then she tapped her fingers nervously. "Hey Fang...um, are you doing anything tonight?" 

  
Fang looked at her in surprise. Was asking a teammate out in the middle of a game something girls did these days? Then she remembered. "Why, you going to try that ritual thing tonight?"

  
"Yeah."

  
"Yeah," Fang agreed readily. "I can come keep watch with you." Would be interesting anyway.

  
Vanille's face brightened immediately. "Yay!"

  
Fang looked out to the field. "Their clean-up is a lefty, you think Serah can handle him?"

  
Vanille chewed her thumbnail in consideration. "I think...you should worry more about if Noel can keep the outfield under control."  
"You're not wrong there," Fang agreed. 

  
Sports, Fang figured, made for great immersion therapy for someone with control issues. The first batter hit a pop-up and Fang ground her teeth as Snow got under it, raising his mitt to the sky. Her body held that line of tension until it plopped down safely into his glove—the first out. _Good man._

  
The game progressed. The l'Cie's batters still struggled with the pitch, and the Bass were up 1-0, thanks to a deep hit to right field that Serah had to go chasing. When it came time for Fang's time at bat, she got a good look at the mystery pitch, but was only able to put a weak dribbler down the third base line, and she was thrown out at first. Gabot hit it off the bottom of his bat, rocketing the ball into the dirt by his feet, easy pickings for the catcher. Lightning, next in the order, went down looking.

  
"Are you sure that's how you wanted to play that, Captain?" Fang asked as Lightning also retreated back to the dugout.   
"We needed a better look," Lightning said. "There's something we're not seeing."

  
"And what did you learn?" 

  
Lightning frowned like she was angry with what she was about to say. "I don't know." There was tightness around her eyes. "Something about it...I'm not sure it's a fastball. It's more like a changup." Changeups were off-speed pitches that were supposed to look like fastballs.

  
Fang turned this over and over in her mind. "I don't know if I buy that," she said. "I mean, we didn't have a lot of data on this new guy, but surely we'd have heard if he's go-to pitch was a changeup?" But of course it would make sense. Changeups were supposed to convince you they were fastballs... So why did Fang's gut instinct still say no?

  
Then in the next at-bat, to her's complete surprise, Hope got on base. A fast little fucker, he hit a grounder right to the short stop, who fumbled it getting out of her mitt, and Hope beat the throw to first. Lumina was up.

  
_ It's too much pressure on the kid,_ Fang thought as they all watched her take the plate. No way she was gonna make it.

  
Fang's jaw dropped a moment later, when Lumina got the hit. The ball just made it into the outfield and that was good enough for a single. Hope slid into second. They had a runner in scoring position. 

  
"Alright!" Vanille clapped her hands excitedly. "Way to go, Lumina!" 

  
_Two outs,_ Fang thought. _And next up we have..._ She watched Serah walking up to the plate. Shit. Serah was a talented player, but she was only an average batter. She struggled with timing, for one thing. Fang watched with a sinking feeling as she sat on the first pitch, and then proceeded to swing and miss the next three pitches. Inning over. Chance blown.

  
"It's okay Serah!" Vanille called. Lumina, running in from first base for the inning change, slung an arm around her shoulder. 

  
The Bass had scored again, which had sort of killed Yuj's pitcher mojo but Snow was trying to do damage control, mostly with the help of Gadot. 

  
“You have no control over how good their pitcher is,” Fang overheard Snow telling him. “All you can control is how good your pitches are and you’ve been doing great. I'm proud of you. You're doing you're job.”

  
“You couldn’t figure it out either, huh?” Lighting said as Fang was putting on her catcher’s gear. It was a little early for Vanille, as a relief pitcher, to come in but they needed a new strategy. Top of the sixth and the Bass were up 2-0. Fucking A. If they couldn't get a hit off the Bass pitcher, they needed to double down on defense. 

  
"Not yet," Fang said. "But I will."

  
Vanille’s pitches were little trickier than Yuj’s and as they had hoped for, it took the other team players a swing or two to adjust to them. Fortunately, that was all Fang and Vanille needed to shut them down. 

It took five batters for them to get three outs. Five up, three down wasn’t bad. Vanille hadn't even had to use that many flutterballs.  
"Hey Fang," Vanille said, on their way back to the dugout. 

  
"Hm?"

  
"What if it's not a changeup? What if... their pitcher has a slow fastball?"

  
Fang frowned. "What does that mean?"

  
"Well it moves like a fastball, right? But we all know how to hit a fastball."

  
"With you so far." Fang ducked into the dugout.

  
"And we haven't seen it move like a changeup." Fang realized as Vanille said it, that this was the doubt she'd had about Lightning's theory. Changeups looked like fastballs but they often ended up moving in ways a fastball didn't. Vanille trailed after her, plunking herself on the bench next to Fang. "It moves like a regular fastball. So our problem must be it's slower than a regular fastball, without being a changeup at all!"

  
_Holy shit._ Could it really be so simple? "Hey Light," Fang said. "You might wanna get in on this." 

  
Lighting took in the expression on Fang's face. "Talk to me." She closed the space between them in two steps. 

  
"Tell her, Vanille," Fang said. 

  
"Well," Vanille fidgeted. "What if the reason we can't get a hit off of him isn't because he has a wicked changeup? What if it's because he's pitching a slow fastball?" 

  
Lightning frowned. Fang watched her crunching the numbers in her head. "So you're saying we haven't connected because we're gearing up for faster pitch?" 

  
"Yeah." Fang's own brain had been running. "What if it's not just slower by one or two miles?" 1-2 mph slower wouldn't make for that big of a swing adjustment. "What if it's slower by like ten? Or even fifteen." 

  
Lightning turned this over. "It looks like a fastball so we swing like it's a fastball...But it's not the usual speed so we miss." People were starting to gather. They could tell when their captain had something on her mind. "Then we try to correct and swing like it's a changeup but it still moves like a fastball but we miss. Who do we have who's made contact so far?"

  
"Lumina," Fang started listing them. "Hope... Serah..."

  
"Serah's always had a problem with bat drag," Lightning said. It meant she swung too slow. "So has Hope." 

  
"Right," Fang said. 

  
"What's going on?" Sahz came over. "We need to get up to plate! Captain, you're on deck!" Fang glanced out of the dugout to where Gadot was already stepping up to the plate.

  
"Tell him," Lightning ordered briskly. She put on her helmet and strode out to the on deck circle.

  
As Fang rehashed what they had been discussing, a line of concentration appeared between Sahz's eyes. "Can anyone confirm this?" he asked when she had finished.

  
"I do swing late..." Hope said almost shamefully from where he was sitting in on the bench. This vulnerability was undercut by the fact that Maqui had been in the middle of trying to sneak as many wads of gum as he could onto the back of Hope's baseball cap.

  
"Hey!" Snow hissed, and smacked him on the back of the head.

  
"Alright," Sahz said. "Listen up! I want you to take your time in your at-bats. Don't be afraid to sit on the pitch. Get a read on it. It's still a fastball. Do you all know how to hit a fastball?"

  
"Yes Coach!" came the chorus. 

  
Gadot was thrown out at first and then it was Lightning’s turn to step up to the plate. “Swing late,” Fang murmured, hanging off the dugout's chicken wire as she watch their captain. "Come on you beautiful bastard." 

  
When Lightning hit a line-drive on the very first pitch, the enter l'Cie dugout exploded with cheering. 

  
"Go Light!" Serah was jumping up and down.

  
“Alright Lightning!” Snow called. 

  
“Don'tcha think it was just pure luck? That’s all it was,” Lumina said. But she was grinning.

  
When Hope stepped up to the plate, Fang felt her hopes rising. Hope had already gotten a handle on it once. Maybe he would be able to make something of all of this. _Just lift the elbow, get yourself ready…_

  
The _crack!_ that rang out when Hope connected was the most beautiful sound Fang had heard all day. _That's a ground rule double, _fuck _yes_. It put Hope on second and Lightning on third. "Yes!" Fang hissed viciously. Beside her Vanille was jumping up and down. Snow slammed his hands on the chicken wire. 

  
"Yeah!" His voice shook the dugout. 

  
There air crackled with tension in the dugout as Lumia Farron stepped up to bat. Fang held her breath. Lumina had hit it before but she was one of their more inconsistent batters. What was going to happen? 

  
She shouldn't have worried. When Lumina got a single to load the bases, the entire l'Cie dugout erupted like a pack of howling wolves. The bases were loaded. For the first time all game, they had a chance.

  
When game ended with the l'Cie up 3-2n Fang threw an arm around Vanille's shoulders. "Here's the real hero of the game, l'Cie!" she called, radiating pride over her clever, clever pitcher. "Let me buy you a drink, yeah?"

And for some reason Vanille blushed to the roots her hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the most in-depth sports we have, I promise. If you're not a sports kid and you read the whole thing, congratulations. ;)


	4. In Which There Is Witchcraft, and a Lake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter as gotten a minor update to reflect the scale I wanted magic to have in this universe. It doesn't affect the rest of the story.

Fang hadn't been arrested in a while. Mostly because she had been trying to keep a low profile while at university. She had figured the thing that would finally break her streak, if anything, would be, something like punching a cop in the face at an environmental protest. Trespassing seemed pretty weak in comparison.

  
_ Not even vandalism,_ Fang thought with a sigh as she watched Vanille traipse her way up to the door of yet another home and slip a flyer in the mailbox. At the next house over, Lumina was distributing a flyer of her own. Fang was on lookout duty. _Not even tagging at least. We're going to be arrested for fucking trespassing. _

  
Vanille had shown Fang a copy of the flyers before they left the inn. It read as follows:  
HOW TO PURIFY THE WATER!  
1\. Plant plants! Bulrushes and hardy water lillies are a good place to start. :) NOT TROPICAL LILLIES.  
2\. Clean up trash! The cleaner the lake, the better home for the fish to come back to.  
3\. Believe! Magic can happen if you wish for it. :D

  
Asking a bunch of small-town locals in a college town to believe in magic, and well, belief seemed wildly optimistic in Fang's opinion but she definitely didn't have the Gift. So. She knew when to keep her mouth shut.

  
They snuck from house to house until they ran out of flyers. Then they headed for the lake.

  
Lake Bresha itself was an bizarre place, surrounded by cliffs and the shores were littered with debris. The water was disturbingly still and in the wrong light could even look frozen. Tonight it was oddly pale and the air was quiet. Still, Fang was forced to admit in the tense silence surrounding them, the scene was kind of pretty. In a creepy way. 

  
They had only been there about five minutes, and that had been enough time for Vanille and Lumina to pull supplies out of their sports bags, and for Vanille to slip her necklace of lucky keys around her neck. Now she was up to her waist in that nasty water and Fang, still on lookout, stood on the sand and watched. Lumina was still getting something ready.

  
"Got it!" she crowed and Fang did a double take.

  
"What have you got?" she demanded, all attention caught up in the colorful heap of fabric in Lumina's hands. Then a cold realization dawned on her. "You have got to be joking, tell me that's not—"

  
"The Lake Bresha Bass mascot," Lumina announced dramatically. "Bloodfang!" She held the costume out. It was as big as she was and twice as wide. It was also ugly as hell. ...Honestly, Fang was kinda figuring Lumina had done Lake Bresha U a favor by stealing it.

  
"You got it!" Vanille called happily. There was a splashing sound as she batted at the water. "Yay!"

  
"You were in on this?" Fang demanded. _Maniacs,_ she thought. _I'm surrounded by maniacs._

  
"We need something to call the fish back," Vanille explained as though this were perfectly reasonable. Which, to hell with it. Maybe it was. She was beginning to understand that her experience with witches as a girl had left her a long way off from knowing anything about how they worked. Vanille continued, "Once the fish come back, the ecosystem of the lake can grow big and strong."

  
"Well," Fang said after a beat. "Cheers."

  
As Lumina began to drag the mascot's costume into the water Fang took comfort in the thought that if the cops did show up, at least they would catch Lumina first.

  
Still, she couldn't help herself saying "How long is this gonna take?"

  
"Witches can breathe underwater," Vanille assured her. Which had not been what she asked, and also gave her way more questions than answers, thank you. "But this shouldn't take too long. Five minutes?"

  
"So should I come get you if you're not back in five?" Fang was a pretty good swimmer but she didn't know if she could handle two drowning people at the same time. 

  
"I'd make it ten if I were you," Lumina said and then they both slipped under the water before Fang could respond.

  
Fang had no way of knowing the desolate scene that greeted Lumina and Vanille under the water. The only decoration was the dark shadows of trees littered crisscross along the lake bottom. Here are there a large piece of debris, a hub cap, a steel beam could be spotted. There was no lakeweed and barely even algae, beyond a green fuzz that grew along the the dead tree bark. 

  
Ye _gods_, this was so stressful. Fang lingered on the sand, ears perked, hyper aware of every sound and rustle in the trees. Did Lightning wonder where they were? Did Lumina tell her where they went? What was going on under the water?

  
To any passer-by it would have appeared that Fang was just sitting calmly, staring out across the lake. Her face betrayed nothing of her building anxiety. 

  
Lumina held the Bloodfang mascot in place while Vanille opened first her open bottle of seawater and then her ziploc bag of salt. Had Fang been there to watch, it would have seem to her that an impossible amount of salt spilled out of the bag in comparsion to how large the ziploc itself was. It took a full minute to Vanille to empty. Once it was finally done, she took hold of the mascot costume along with Lumina and the two pushed it out into the water. By all appearances, it should have risen to the surface, but itstead it sank deeper and deeper, until it was out of sight beyond the debris.

  
Back up on the sand, as her watch crept up on 8 minutes, Fang began to grow restless. She was mentally planning how she was going to explain to the team that their relief pitcher and their left fielder had fucking died on her watch, when Vanille broke the surface again. Lumina was right behind her. 

  
Immediately, Fang was on her feet, running into the water to help them up. "Are you okay?" She grasped Vanille's hands and they were so, so cold.

  
"I'm okay!" Vanille gasped. She looked up at Fang, hair plastered to her face and eyes shining. "I'm really okay, I promise."  
Lumina was just arriving at shore, and Fang held out one hand to help her, the other still gripping Vanille's. Holy shit. She didn't have the mascot costume.

  
"Where's the fish?" Fang demanded as Lumina found her footing again. "Don't tell me you lost the fish."

  
"We gave it to the water," Lumina explained, also catching her breath. "That's how it works."

  
_We are going to jail for trespassing and fucking_ costume theft, Fang thought defeatedly. She knew how to lose the cops but there was just no way she could leave Vanille and Lumina behind to get caught. "I hope you two are ready to run if the police show up," she sighed and led them back onto the sand.

  
Vanille dug around in her bag, and came up with an extra set of clothes and a towel. Fang raised an eyebrow as she watched her. How often had Vanille done this shit that she was so prepared for it? "Where're your clothes?" she asked Lumina. 

  
Lumina watched Vanille, looking crestfallen, though she tried to cover it. "I didn't bring any," she said. "I'm not used to having a human body, I guess." 

  
Somehow that was the weirdest thing Fang had heard all night. 

  
"Here you go!" Vanille had been drying off the excess water from her hair, and she held out the towel to Lumina. 

  
"Thaaanks." Lumina accepted the towel sheepishly. She and Fang turned away politely as Vanille changed into her dry clothes. Fang took the moment to look out over the water and wonder if she believed witches these days were still powerful enough to purify a whole entire lake.

  
_Well,_ she reflected. _I guess Mom did tell me she saw a dragon once. _

  
"It definitely worked," Vanille said, having finished her costume change. "I can feel it." There was a bizarre sense of peace as the three of them stood and contemplated the thing.

  
Finally, Fang heaved a deep sigh. Taking Vanille's bag up off the sand, she slung it over her shoulder, ignoring Vanille's protestations. "Well, let's head back." 

  
They hadn't been walking for more than a minute before Fang noticed that Vanille was shivering. Possibly Lumina was too, though it was harder to tell with the towel wrapped around her like that. "Everyone alright?" she asked, a general question to the group. 

  
"Of course," Vanille insisted brightly. Fang could see the goosebumps along her shoulders even in the dim light. Crop tops and short shorts were a good look but probably not a good fit when you were coming off a swim at 1:30 in the morning. 

  
"Liar," she said. And then, because she did feel kind of responsible for Lightning's weird cousin, she looked over to Lumina too. 

  
"I'm always alright," Lumina said.

  
"Yeah, but are you cold?" 

  
"I'm not cold," Vanille said, more lies. 

  
"Me neither," Lumina agreed.

  
Fang looked between them. Either Lumina had one hell of a poker face or that towel genuinely was keeping her warm. With Vanille however, Fang could see the ends of her hair starting to tremble. 

  
Rolling her eyes, Fang fell into step with her and threw an arm around her shoulder. "You're a damn liar, Oerba Dia." 

  
Vanille gave a shaky giggle but slipped her own arm around Fang's waist. Fang looked over at Lumina, daring her to say something. Lumina just gave a smirk and kept silent. 

  
At some point Fang was going to have be honest with herself about Vanille but that point was not today.

  
"So what's it like under the lake then?" she asked instead. 

  
"Bizarre," Vanille said. "There's nothing even growing under there." Sadness crept into her tone. "It's way too quiet."

  
"You've never seen anything like it," Lumina agreed. 

  
Fang, who spent approximately zero time doing witchcraft, did not refute this. They walked in silence and for a few moments, their shoes on the gravel roadside was the only sound. "Have you done stuff like this before?" she asked. 

  
"Nope!" Lumina said cheerfully. Then her face took on a thoughtful expression. "Unless you count the time I had to sneak Serah out at night to bless my mom's garden. Before Light could catch us."

  
There was...not enough time to unpack all that. So Fang opted for not trying. "What about you?" she asked, looking back to Vanille.

  
"Mmhm!" Vanille appeared to be trying to nestle closer, a difficult thing to do while walking. Fang tried to help by squeezing her shoulder a little. "There was a problem with the water where we used to live, so my mother and I would bless the wells in the town..." Her expression took on a far-away aspect as she recalled. "We would collect moss and add it to the water. We even planted bulrushes sometimes." She gave a sigh, nostalgic. "You know, people don't have city doctors to rely on in the outback. They have to rely on us."

  
Fang could attest to this firsthand. "You do good work," she agreed.

  
The inn was dark as they slipped back in, at almost 2 a.m. They were going to be exhausted tomorrow but Fang was banking on being able to sleep on the train home. Lumina threw Vanille's towel back to her and then slipped back into her own room with a grin and a wink. Fang and Vanille were left facing each other awkwardly. Fang handed her back her bag.

  
"Here."

  
"Oh. Thank you." They looked at each other for a long moment. Fang cleared her throat. "It's late—"

  
"We should go—" Vanille started at the same time.

  
"Yeah, early morning tomorrow."

  
"Absolutely!" 

  
They stood there for a moment longer. Then Fang smiled and to her relief, Vanille smiled back. This was ridiculous.

  
"Good night then."

  
"Good night Fang." 

  
Fang opened the door to her and Lightning's room cautiously. Maybe if she was quiet enough, Miss Supersoldier over there wouldn't catch—

  
"You're out late," came the groggy voice from Lightning's bed. 

  
_Shit._ "Oh no," Fang drawled. "You caught me." She settled on her bed and began to take off her boots. 

  
"Were you with Vanille?" Her back was to Lighting, but Fang could still hear the rustling as she sat up.

  
"So what if I was?"_ Be cool, Oerba Yun._

  
"Nothing," Lightning said in a tone that clearly meant _something_. 

  
Fang really should have been content to let it lie at that but something else was nagging her. It took her a few moments to come to her, once she was finally lying in her bed, staring at the ceiling. 

  
"Hey Light?" 

  
"Mm."

  
"How come Lumina and Serah had to bless a garden behind your back?" 

  
There was a disgruntled texture to the silence before Lightning said, "Did Serah tell you that?" 

  
"Lumina."

  
Lightning huffed. "Don't worry about it."

  
In the dark Fang arched an eyebrow. Ah yes. "_Don't worry about it_," the declaration of innocent people everywhere. "Big coven in your town, was there?"

  
"I _said_ don't worry about it." There was a violent rustling as Lightning turned over sharply.

  
As sleep crept up on her, Fang turned this over in her mind. She didn't know how to tell Light that as much as everyone respected her for what she'd done for her sister... this continued "being a parent to your sibling" thing was going to come back to haunt her one day. 

  
Fang's last conscious thought was that it sure was easier to think about other people's relationship problems than about any that definitely were not headed her way. _Nope. Not gonna worry about that. _


	5. In Which There is Almost a Family Feud

Vanille was frowning on her phone. Again. They were both spread out over the bed and Fang _thought_ that they were here to study. "Working hard there?" she drawled, flicking a wad of paper at Vanille to get her attention. 

  
Vanille caught it distractedly—_Nice reflexes_—continuing to frown at her screen. Eventually she set it down, and picked up her pencil again. Fang watched her for a few more moments and finally Vanille was forced to look up again. 

  
"Hm?"

  
"I _said,_" Fang propped her chin on her hand. "Working hard, are you?" 

  
"I am!" Vanille insisted, tucking her phone away. She had a nervousness about her that was different than usual. Fang frowned internally. 

  
"Everything good?" 

  
"Yeah!" Vanille held her gaze stubbornly for a few moments before giving in and hanging her head a little. "Um. It's just. Well, you haven't ever dated a guy have you?"

  
This took Fang by surprise. Although she did appreciate the assumption baked into that sentence. "Never had a reason to. I've always kinda been a lesbian." She tried not to smirk too much as she said it. But hey. If you were gonna be something, be proud.   


"Yeah...Me too..." Vanille trailed away, looking distracted. And though she desperately wanted to stay cool, Fang couldn't resist prying, just a bit.

  
"What, always been a lesbian? Or never dated a guy?"

  
"Both?" Vanille's shoulders hunched in a kind of shrug. 

  
Fang held out her hand for a high-five. "Lesbians," she said eloquently, ignoring the flip in her stomach. Vanille very delicately placed her palm against Fang's. And just ...left it there. _Stay cool._ With ginger slowness, Fang laced their fingers together. They just looked at each other for a moment. _Shit, say something._ Then Vanille burst into giggles. Fang couldn't help but smile. "We are one," she informed Vanille in fake seriousness, withdrawing her hand safely.

  
"We are!" Vanille agreed, imitating Fang's gravitas. "We're like the same person." She punctuated this with an emphatic nod.

  
"You could be me for a day, I reckon," Fang said. 

  
"I could!" Vanille said. She pulled her hair back in an imitation of the poytail Fang was currently sporting. "I could intimidate men...be a catcher...Have abs..."

  
"I've seen your abs," Fang said just to cover how flustered she was. "They are at least as good as mine."

  
"Nope! Yours are definitely better. All the girls agree." Vanille poked at her tummy and Fang grunted.

  
_She is not hitting on you. Just because a pretty girl is also a lesbian does not mean she is hitting on you._ She poked Vanille on the cheek, revenge. "Who are all these girls anyway?"

  
"Hmmm..." Vanille clearly made a show of thinking about it. Vanille was always putting on a performance. It was like that one dead guy had said, the whole planet was a stage. "Well, me, Lumina, Lebreau..." She fidgeted just for a moment, a stutter in the part. "Serah—"

  
"Serah did _not_ pick me over Snow."   
"Well, no. But she should have," Vanille said, possibly just to be nice.

  
Fang snorted. "Thanks."

  
There was a companionable silence and Fang was just about to try to refocus on her work when Vanille said, "Um." Fang looked back up at her. "How do you tell when someone is moving too fast?"

  
Fang frowned. Where did that come from? "What?"

  
"No, it's just that. Well." Vanille reached for her phone and looked down at the screen. "Serah keeps asking me for advice," she admitted. "But it's hard to know what to say..." 

  
"Because Snow's a man?" 

  
"Because. Well." Vanille was fidgeting now, still refusing to make eye contact. "Do you think Lightningistoocontrolling?" It came out all in a rush. Fang raised an eyebrow and Vanille was already trying to apologize. "I'm sorry I know she's your roommate—"

  
"Nah, you're right."

  
Vanille stopped cold. "What?"

  
"You're right," Fang said. She had been living the lady for two years now. This wasn't new. "She has control issues. And I get it, don't get me wrong." She really did. "Light has held that family together with both hands for years." As much as Fang would kill any man Lightning Farron asked her to, she also knew that Lightning was still struggling to adjust to the idea that things were _good_ now. That she didn't have to be the only one taking care of her sister anymore. "But if Serah has a fella that wants to give her everything his bank account can handle?" She shrugged. "Good for her."

  
"Yeah..." Vanille sighed. "But don't you think Snow is a bit..." She had clasped her hands together and twiddling. "...Flakey?"

  
Fang barked a laugh. "Yeah, obviously." And Serah too if they were being honest. 

  
"I mean he's really nice!" Vanille hastened to add. "But just, um..." She trailed away again, more fidgeting. 

  
"Yeah, he and Serah aren't exactly opposites attracting, are they?"

  
"No," Vanille agreed. "They sure aren't." She finally raised her head, not to look at Fang but to stare into the middle distance.

  
Fang nudged her shoulder, just to snap her out of it. "What about you then?"

  
"Me?" Vanille did look up at her now.

  
"Yeah, you believe opposites attract?" Fang's special power was keeping her voice calm. 

  
"Oh." Vanille dropped her gaze again, considering it. "I sure hope so," she said finally.

  
_That_ was enigmatic. Maybe she wanted Serah to drop Snow and date someone else? Seemed unlikely from where Fang stood. If they ever broke up it was only gonna come because both of them had burned themselves out, not because of any advice.

  
She sighed and reached for her headphones again. "Come on, let's just keep working."

  
\- -

  
"Did you hear the soccer team went on a bender over the weekend?" Maqui could be heard talking as they filed off the field after practice. It had been all over the student athlete grapevine. The soccer team was notorious for partying way too hard.

  
"That could have been us," Fang commented to Vanille as they carried the bats back to the equipment shed. "If only we didn't have Snow and his band of choirboys."

  
"Nothing wrong with a little choir," Snow said, coming up behind her. He plucked a bat out of her bucket and Fang just arched her eyebrow at him. 

  
"What's that for, big fella?" They were supposed to be cleaning up, not taking equipment out. 

  
Snow rubbed the back of his neck in his familiar nervous tick. "Serah needs a little extra batting practice," he said, clearly trying to mask his embarrassment. "I'm gonna help her." Having decided the bat was the wrong size, he handed it back to Fang sheepishly. Fang rolled her eyes and set the bucket down so he could go through it. 

  
"Well that's noble of you," she drawled. Bent over as he was, she could see the back of Snow's neck turning red.

  
"Vanille." And Lightning suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "I need a few extra balls." Vanille currently had that particular equipment bag slung over her shoulder. 

  
_Don't tell me..._ "What for?" Fang asked, a smirk still evident in her tone. 

  
"Hope needs some more fielding practice." Then, "_What?_" because Vanille had burst into giggles. 

  
"It's a family affair!" she said. "That's so sweet." Probably to Lightning and Snow, she just came across as naive but Fang knew better than that. She grinned as well.

  
Lightning appeared about to respond to this but was interrupted by her own realization that Snow, still behind Fang, was not putting away the bats, but in fact getting one out. "What are you doing?"

  
Snow put on a brave face. "Just helping out with extra batting practice." He even gave Lightning a fucking thumbs up. 

  
"You don't need extra batting practice," Lightning said flatly. This was set to be the funniest thing Fang had ever seen her life. 

  
"Well sure, I don't," Snow agreed. "But some of the other team members do. And that's why I gotta help out." He made an aborted attempt to give another thumbs up, before dropping his hand back down to his side awkwardly. and Fang almost lost it, right then and there.

  
"Maybe we should go, yeah?" Vanille suggested softly. Fang nodded and moved to take the bats from Snow.

  
"Hey!" And Serah was running up to them. "Are you ready?" She looked up, up at Snow for a minute before looking over at Lightning. "What's wrong?"

  
"Oh no..." Vanille breathed. 

  
"_You're_ the one who needs extra batting practice," Lightning said, like she couldn't believe it. Fang thought this was a bit unfair. Everyone knew Serah needed extra batting practice. She had a high on-base percentage but it would be nice if she could hit for power. Then Lightning said, "Why didn't you come to me?"

  
Ah.

  
"What's wrong with asking Snow?" Serah asked. Fang every so casually reached for Vanille's hand, and Vanille gave the universal squeeze of "_do you see this_?" Fang gripped back: "_holy shit, holy shit._" 

  
Then she let go because there was already enough romantic problems on the field.

  
"Hey Lightning, do you mind getting started?" Hope asked, jogging over to join them. Fang watched the poor kid's bewildered face as he took in the scene. "Uh, what's going on?"

  
"Nothing," Snow and Lighting said at the same time. 

  
"Don't worry about," Fang advised him. 

  
"What's wrong with asking Snow?" Serah repeated.

  
"Uh oh," Hope breathed. He and Fang made eye contact and Fang snorted again.

  
"You could've asked me," Lightning said. 

  
"_Gods_," Serah said. 

  
Snow started to open his mouth. "Oh, I wouldn't, mate," Fang murmured. Then, before she knew what was happening, Serah was grabbing Vanille's hand to take her aside. Fang and Hope made eye contact again before looking back to their teammate's whispered conference. Whatever Serah was saying, Fang could tell by the growing tension in Vanille's posture that it wasn't fun.

  
Therefore she wasn't that surprised when Vanille turned back to the group and said "why don't Fang and I stay and practice with you too!"

  
There was about twenty solid seconds of silence before Fang took pity on these fools. "Sounds fun," she agreed, with only a hint of irony. 

  
"Yeah!" Vanille's brightness was more convincing.

  
"The more the merrier," Snow said, equally convincing.

  
Lightning felt no such obligation. "Fine. Whatever." She took the entire bag from Vanille before turning back to Hope. "Let's go." Hope made a confused kind of face back at them before turning and following Lightning towards the diamond. 

  
"Well, why don't we practice in the outfield?" Snow suggested. "Vanille, would you like to pitch to her?" 

  
"If you think that's best," Vanille began. 

"This is stupid," Fang interrupted. "We may as well all use the same diamond."

  
As they all meandered towards the bases, Fang murmured to Vanille, "You owe me a drink for this."

  
"I'm sorry," Vanille whispered back.

  
Fang sighed. "It's probably for the best. Won't be much of a team if the catcher and the captain kill each other." 

  
Vanille gave a little sigh through her nose. "Yeah..." 

  
Fang gave her a nudge of encouragement before clearing her throat. "Hey Snow! I hope you don't think you're gonna be catching for _my_ pitcher." First of all, Fang had dibs, and second of all, there was a reason knuckleballers had their own catchers. Snow wouldn't try to catch for Vanille if he didn't want to embarrass herself in front of Serah. 

  
"Aw share a little," Snow said with a grin. "I need the extra practice." 

  
"But that would leave me at first base. We all know first base is for the sluggers." Not that Fang couldn't slug on her good days. But there was a reason Gadot's arms were the size of her thighs. Also, if she had to pick another base, it would be 3rd, like Lightning. It was the only position that came close to getting as hard balls at home plate.

  
There would be some many good jokes in there if Light wasn't asexual. 

  
"Fine," Snow said good naturedly. "But I want a turn sometime." Fang narrowed her eyes, shaking her head after him as he ran towards first. As she went to settle herself back behind home plate, she made eye contact with Lightning.

  
"Are we supposed to join you?" Lightning asked, in that challenging tone.

  
"Makes sense, doesn't it?" Fang said, challenging her right back. "Your boy gets more fielding and Serah gets more at bats."

  
There was a beat and then Lighting gave in, huffing and turning her whole body towards home plate. "I hate when you make sense."

  
"It's a curse." And Fang settled herself down in earnest. 

  
As much as this had clearly been Snow trying to get some bonding time with Serah, Fang had to admit he was still doing the team a solid. Serah could hit switch, and if they could just get some more force behind her swings, she could become a challenge for any pitcher to put away.

  
They started Serah off light, showing her Vanille's fastball, easily her weakest pitch. Serah, on the lefty's side of the box, knocked them out like clockwork for Snow to field at first base. 

  
"Good start, Serah!" he called.

  
"Try to hit one to second," Lightning said. Fang signaled for another fastball, just to make it easy on her.

  
Serah hit a solid grounder, not quite at second but between second and first. Snow let Hope chase it and he was on it in two steps, snapping it up and throwing home. Vanille stepped back a pace just to be outside the line of fire.

  
"Not bad," Lightning acknowledged. "But call it next time. In a game they're not just going to assume you have it."

  
"You got it." Hope's voice was still cracking, poor kid. 

  
They took turns in their at bats. Lighting, Snow and Fang could all call their hits a lot better than Serah, Hope or Vanille, hitting pop ups and wicked grounders for the younger players to chase. It was kind of a pity, Fang figured. Lightning and Snow had complementary styles: they could probably be a good combination if they could just get over Serah. 

  
The rotation came around to Serah again and Fang, figuring her to be warmed up enough called for a knuckleball. Vanille lobbed up a beautiful floater, and Fang felt all her attention hone in on it, ready on a hair trigger to catch it where it went.

  
Serah swung at it and got a little too far under it, hitting a pop-fly that was definitely coming down infield, just past the pitcher's mound. Vanille started to take a few steps back, raising her glove.

  
"I got it! I got it!" Hope called, dashing forward and the same time Snow yelled "Mine! Mine!" Vanille, possibly sensing impending disaster, squeaked and dropped to her knees, covering her head.

  
Fang watched, unable to stop anything as Snow dropped into a slide, taking Hope's legs out from under him. Hope fell forward, twisting awkwardly to try to avoid hitting Vanille but still catching part of her shoulder.

  
Fang was on her feet and running before a thought had fully formed in her head. She barely even noticed that Serah was running too.  
"You okay?" she asked, frantically scanning her teammates for signs of injury, before holding out both hands to help Vanille up.

  
"I'm okay!" Vanille gasped. "I'm fine!"

  
Lightning appeared on Fang's left. "Everyone okay?"

  
Hope groaned and sat up. "I think so." He looked over at Vanille in concern. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, no!" Vanille gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about me."

  
"Did I hurt you?" Snow had sat up too. Serah had dropped down, hands hovering over him in concern.

  
"Uh," Hope looked awkward. "It's nothing."

  
"What were you thinking?" Lighting demanded, glaring at Snow. "He _called_ it."

  
"Snow called it too!" Serah snapped back.

  
"I'm really sorry." Snow pressed a hand flat against his chest. "That was selfish of me. Are you sure you're okay?"

  
"I'm fine," Hope insisted. But he wasn't making eye contact, Fang noticed. She turned back to Vanille. 

  
"You sure you're good?" She put her hand on Vanille's shoulder, squeezing a little, watching for any little wince of pain. Nothing.

  
"I'm fine!" Vanille insisted, attempting to wave Fang's concern away. Lightning helped Hope to his feet and Serah tried to help Snow, one of his hands in both of hers as she leaned all her weight back. Fang caught sight of Lightning's face and rolled her eyes. Someone was getting moody.

  
That was when Sazh's voice rang across the field.

"I heard I had a few fools trying to overwork themselves," he called. His son Dajh was in tow and each of them were holding a smoothie in hand. Fang watched him approach and watched his face as he took in the tense atmosphere. "Was it something I said?" There was an awkward silence as everyone tried to figure out what to say, but Sazh wasn't an idiot. He sighed dramatically. "Anything I need to know about?"

  
"No Coach," they muttered.

  
"If you're sure." He surveyed them for another moment. Fang, in her peripheral, noticed that Serah and Snow were still holding hands. She was sure Sazh saw it too. "Why don't we call it a day?" 

  
"Yes Coach."

  
"I'm ordering you all an ice bath," he said sternly as they all trickled off the field. His little chocobo was perched on Dajh's head. "Gotta fight that inflammation." Fang, who was already icing her knees after every game, was certainly not going to fight him on this.

  
The ice baths were in the physiotherapist's room, between the male and female locker rooms. There were four full sized baths. Two tubs were brought out for Serah and Vanille, who were the only two short enough to fit into them. Everyone stayed in their slider shorts and the women stayed in their sports bras. Fang was fully prepared for this to be done in total, awkward silence, and then Vanille said "How's everyone's fantasy league doing?"

_Oh thank the gods._

  
"Ugh." Snow's head dropped back against the rim of the bath. "No one will trade with me."

  
"That's because your roster is full of injuries," Hope said from the bath adjacent. "You have to stop betting on the long shot."

  
"But Snow loves a long shot," Fang drawled. She glanced over to her left where Vanille had folded herself in the tub. Vanille smiled up at her.

  
"Have some respect for the seniors in the league," Snow protested. "They've made it for this long for a reason."

  
"That's why they're injured," Lightning said. "You have to focus on on-base percentage."

  
"I'll trade with you," Serah offered.

  
"You don't have to do that," Snow said, smiling at her.

  
"You all talking fantasy league?" Sazh knocked on the door frame as he entered. "I got banned from the family pool after last year," he said with a grin. "They said I was usin' too much 'insider-info.'" 

  
Snow chuckled at this and Fang almost missed Vanille murmuring "I know what that's like..." as she splashed her ice water morosely. Fang looked at her askance. She wasn't sure anyone else had heard it.

  
"Anyway," Sazh continued. "I'm putting in another smoothie order, what do you want? It's on me." 

  
Let it never be said that Sazh was not a good guy. Everyone sipped their smoothies and the tension in the room continued to drain. Everyone passed around their flavors to try and when Vanille handed Fang's back to her, Fang noticed her chapstick smudged along it.   
  
When she got home she didn't google "How to Make a Witch Fall in Love with You" but it was only because she still had pride. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most first basemen aren't strong fielders are typically on the field because they need to be SOMEwhere. Many of them are here to slug. Gadot's arms look like my thighs so this seemed like a good fit for him. It would also be a good fit for Snow but Snow's catcher energy is too high.  
Also, switch hitter is a player who bats both right-handed and left-handed, usually right-handed against left-handed pitchers and left-handed against right-handed pitchers.


	6. In Which There are Bad Days and Good Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for this chapter, the usual anti-woman/anti-lesbian slurs from background characters. In addition, the c-word is alluded to but never explicitly said.

Some of the bad days in baseball went like this:

  
The game was going into its 12th inning and it was so. Boring. Fang watched as Maqui collected everyone’s hats and attempted to balance as many as possible on his head. Gadot and Snow were throwing things into each other’s mouths. “Back up further,” Gadot called, a bag of sunflower seeds in his hand.

  
“You want me to back this ass up?” Snow teased.

  
“Every damn day,” Gadot informed him, dead serious in his tone but a twinkle in his eyes. “Now do it.”

  
They both laughed as Snow obeyed. When Gadot made his shot from eight feet away, it was the most exciting thing that happened in 30 minutes.

  
Hope's mom, who was a fucking saint, kept bringing them things from the concession stand in an attempt to maintain team morale. Lumina had taken full advantage of this and was working her third jumbo pop.

  
“You’re going to regret that tonight,” Lightning told her.

  
“There is going to be no tonight,” Lumina said, her head on Serah’s shoulder while she slurped morosely. “This game is never going to end.”

  
“Then you’re going to regret it in the 16th inning.”

  
“Don’t say ‘16th inning,’” Fang said. She was lying with her head on Vanille's thigh and had her forearm covering her eyes. “That is gonna suck.”

  
They lost that game 2-1 but it was easily the chillest loss of the season. At least it fucking ended.

  
\--

  
The good days went something like this:

  
"Why'd you call for a timeout?" Fang asked, arriving at the pitcher's mound. They were up 4-1. There was only the runner on first to worry about. 

  
Vanille had her glove up to cover her mouth. "That's their cleanup batter," she said. "She gotta be feeling the pressure right now."

  
Fang glanced back over her shoulder, towards the big beefy lady waiting at home plate. She covered her own mouth and turned back to Vanille. "So you just wanna make her sweat?"

  
"Mmhmm!" Vanille put her other hand over her glove and let her eyes sparkle at Fang. They were standing so close that she was forced to look up, up, up at Fang and Fang could not see the downside to this at all.

  
"Devious," she said. "I like that." 

  
"I'm a devious person!" 

  
"You are," Fang agreed. Most people didn't notice this about Vanille.

  
Maybe Vanille didn't know that Fang knew it about her either because she faltered, eyes dropping a little, seemingly unsure what to say.

  
"You doing anything after this?" Fang asked, to let her off the hook.

  
"Hey!" Vanille's green eyes found her again. "_We're_ going out after this!"

  
"Just checking your memory," Fang teased. She swayed back and forth, just feeling happy. Happy to be in her body, happy to be playing baseball. Happy to be so close with Vanille. Her pitcher. Fang cleared her throat. "You think she's had enough?"

  
Vanille leaned around her, to look back at the cleanup batter. "Yup!" she said, still behind her glove.

  
Fang dropped her glove from in front of her face, and grinned, baring all her teeth. "Sock it to me."

  
\- -

  
And then, some days went like this:

  
Fang hated Sanctum University. She didn't know what was in the water over there but whatever it was, it had turned them all into a bunch of elitist pricks. 

  
"Are you a dyke?" the first base player asked. Fang could feel her eyes on the back of her neck. 

  
_Who says it like that?_ "Why, do you want my number?" she murmured, keeping her gaze locked on the pitcher and creeping out a bit towards second. 

  
"I bet you're a dyke." But Gadot had already gotten the hit and Fang was off like a shot towards second.

  
Fucking pricks.

  
"What is a Chad?" Snow asked to the general chaos in the middle of inning change.

  
"Gods, I wish I were you," Hope muttered. 

  
"What do you mean?" Yuj asked. 

  
"The second baseman called me 'a Chad.'"

  
"You should tell them you're not a Chad," Lumina chimed. "Tell them you're a volcel!" 

  
"A fucking _what_," Fang said, eavesdropping as she put on her catcher's gear. Vanille came over to help her. They had it down to an art by now and obviously Fang didn't read into this at all. It said nothing about their compatibility. Obviously. 

  
"A volcel," Lumina repeated. "You know? A voluntary celebate?" 

  
"I don't," Fang said.

  
"He's not a volcel," Gadot said with a laugh. "He's not a cel at all." Out of the corner of her eye, Fang noticed Serah starting to go pink. "Trust me, I share a room with the guy. Right Snow?" He elbowed Snow in the stomach and Snow retaliated by getting him in a headlock.

  
"What are we doing?" Sazh demanded, coming back into the dugout. "Switch sides! Let's go!"

  
The game progressed. The two teams remained frustratingly neck and neck. It was 2-2 in the fifth and Hope was on third, with Lightning acting as third base coach. Fang was watching from the dugout, hanging onto the wire mesh, and she could tell the third baseman was taunting Hope. She was too far away to hear what was being said but even she could see Lightning's face change the exact moment the other player went too far. 

  
Before anyone had time to blink, Lightning was stepping towards the guy, he was backing up, trying to get away from her and Hope was stepping towards Lightning, bringing up his forearm to press against her sternum. 

  
"Hey!" Immediately, the umpire was on her way over to break it up. Sahz, already standing outside the dugout, started heading over too. "_Hey!_"

  
Some of their teammates started to crowd around the dugout entrance. Even from where she was, Fang could feel the malice coming off Light in waves. It was painfully obvious that the only reason that she wasn't beating the shit out of the guy was because she would have to go through Hope to do it.

  
There was a brief, curt discussion between Sazh, the umpire, and the players at third, and then Lightning was being sent back to the dugout. 

  
"What happened?" Everyone was crowding around her.

  
Lightning glared at no one in particular. In an odd tone, she said, "Don't worry about it." Her tone allowed for no argument.  
There was about 20 seconds of silence as everyone looked at each other, trying to figure out what to say.

  
Fang gave Lightning a nudge. "We'll kill him after," she said, her voice dead calm. 

  
Lightning didn't...smile exactly but Fang could see her uncoil. Just a bit. She glanced at Fang sidelong. "Yeah." Then her eyes found Snow. "Sahz needs you at third. You're coaching now."

  
"I'm on it." It made sense, Fang contemplated as Snow left the dugout. The two people who could replace Lightning as third base coach were Fang and Snow, and of the two of them, Snow was less ready to fight. She was sure Sazh still remembered the fistfight she and Lightning had had in the parking lot freshman year. Despite everything, the thought made her chuckle.

  
In the sixth, Vanille and Fang replaced Snow and Yuj as the battery. A little early, but a change in strategy could give them the edge they needed to pull ahead. The first batter stepped up to the plate and Fang signaled for a curveball, inside. Vanille nodded slowly, wound up and threw.

  
It went a little too far inside and though she didn’t swing, the batter flinched noticeably. _She’s eager,_ Fang decided. Probably, she wasn't sure how to read the new kid. Time to take advantage of that. Another curveball, right down the middle. Three curveballs and a knuckleball later, they struck her out. Fang grinned at the pitcher's mound through she knew Vanille couldn't see it through her mask.

The second guy made first, but the third guy was over-eager. Fang could tell by how long it took him to fidget himself around before he was finally happy with his stance. It was like watching Maqui in practice. And Fang knew how to go after Maqui.

_Fastball, outside._ Even Vanille’s fastball had a little bit of float. It was perfect for coaxing a bad swing out of a batter. The swing came and the ball was popped straight up. Fang ran three steps forward and caught it. She grinned at Vanille—_we make a helluva team, eh?_—before calling “two outs!”

So, of course she was feeling confident as the next batter stepped to the plate. They had two outs. Fucking incredible. Anyway she took a moment to size the next guy up. This was Sanctum's designated hitter, the one who took the pitchers' at-bats for them. The fucker was big, too. Like, Snow big. Fang couldn't wait to take him down.

Maybe that was optimistic of her, but she was riled up and she knew Vanille was too. It just would have been so sweet to take him down only using Vanille's knuckleball. Fang signaled for it, and the first pitch was beautiful, an erratic flutter, right into Fang's mitt.

"Strike one!"

She signaled for another one and this one went wide, but the batter _twitched!_ almost swung and checked himself, forcing Fang to snap the ball up just outside the box.

"Ball one!" 

"That a swing, ump?" Fang asked. That check swing had been close. A swing-and-miss call might but too much to hope for but—

"No swing!" Yeah. 

A little irritated, Fang called for on more knuckler. _Come on, Vanille. Let's get this guy._

Shit. 

She knew the minute the ball left Vanille's glove that something was wrong, was already reaching up with her arm to catch it, when it hit the batter in the shoulder. "Ah!" He flinched and the ball hit the ground with a dull thud. Fang dutifully scooped it up and settled back into her stance.

"Take your base," the ump called.

But the batter wasn't listening. "Why the fuck did you do that?" he demanded to Fang. Fang got to her feet.

"I didn't do anything, sunshine."

"Why'd you keep calling for that floater?"

"Because it's a good pitch." She glared at him through her mask, never wavering. "Now, take your fucking base."

Shocker, her words did not have a soothing effect. "What the fuck did I ever do to you or to her—"

"Well you're pissing me off for one thing," Fang cut him off, stepping closer. Was the ump ever gonna intervene? She pointed down the baseline. "Move."

But the batter was pointing to Vanille now. "You tell that nasty little slut—"

That was as far as he got because Fang hit him. 

All hell broke loose. The hit was a full body-check, which sent him went stumbling back several feet. As the blood started roaring her ears she was distantly aware of the umpire yelling at her, and of both benches clearing as the players from both teams ran onto the field for an all-out brawl. The batter caught himself, took two steps towards her and then they were fighting for real.

It took three coaches and the umpire to finally break it up. A time out had to be called while the two teams reassembled. 

"What the _hell_ was that, Oerba Yun?" Sazh demanded as they all gathered in the dugout again. Fang's lip was bleeding, Hope's eye was rapidly swelling, and Snow's uniform was ripped.

As she tried to formulate her answer, Fang realized in that moment she understood the weird tone in Lightning's voice she was getting grilled for wanting to start a fight. You didn't wanna embarrass someone you cared about by telling everyone the shit they had been called. 

"He was talking shit about Vanille," she settled for saying. 

Everyone on the team all looked to Sazh to see what he would say. Nobody was shocked. Sazh ran his hand through his hair with a sigh, and Chocobo, possibly sensing the stress, came and landed on his shoulder. "What do you say to that little buddy?" Sazh murmured. Chocobo just chirped.

With a shake of his head, Sazh turned back to where his team was still watching him expectantly. "Well if anyone asks you if I said this, deny it," he began. He put a hand on her shoulder. "But good for you." Honestly it was probably the closest thing Fang had ever had in her life to a father-daughter moment in her life. She met his eyes and nodded. Clearing his throat, Sahz turned to address the whole room.

"l'Cie! You get back out there...And you kick their ass."

The action didn't pick up again till the ninth. They were still tied 2-2. Hope was at first. He had edged his way out and was now five or six steps beyond the plate.

“Does Hope normally lead that much?” Fang asked from where she and Vanille were both hanging onto the chain link fence that formed the dugout window. _What are you doing…_

“Never,” Vanille replied. 

The other team’s pitcher turned and threw the pick off. Hope dove back to first. Fang barely had time to hold her breath before the first base umpire called “Safe!”

“He really wants to steal second,” Lightning murmured, watching him resume his lead off, taking just as much room as before.

“Do you reckon?” Sure, it looked like it but Hope never stole bases. Lightning, for example, was one of the the other quick ones on the team, and she stole bases all the time but Hope didn’t play that aggressively.

Lumina’s bat caught the ball at an off angle and dribbled foul down the third base line and Hope was off like a shot. There were moments they forgot who the fastest on the team was but in this was a beautiful reminder. He dropped into a slide and made it to second base before the baseman’s feet even had time to leave the ground as he jumped for the ball.

“Alright, Hope!” Snow roared as the rest of the dugout burst into cheers.

“That is what we call a runner in scoring position, l'Cie,” Sazh said.

It was a tense dugout as everyone clung to the chicken wire, white-knuckled. Serah got herself on first base, but failed to advance their runner. That put them to two outs. Fang heard Vanille mutter “guess that's me then” before walking towards home plate. Her heart started to hammer.

_I believe,_ she thought fiercely. _Vanille knows what she's about. She'll deliver._

When the right pitch came, Vanille swung for the fences. Her shot was beautiful, bouncing between the left and center fielders and Hope was running like no one could catch him, barreling over home plate. Even in the dugout, Fang's adrenaline was roaring. 

“That’s one!” Sazh shouted, laughing. Lumina was right behind her. “That’s two!”

And, just like that, the l'Cie were winning.

“Damn, Hope!” Snow said, as Hope made his way back into the dugout. “Up top!” And he held up both of his hands for Hope to high five. With a surprised look on his face, Hope complied.

Even Lightning, when she told Hope “good job,” had the pride clear in his voice. She cuffed him affectionately on the back of the head, 

When Vanille got that last strike out to close it in the bottom of the 9th, the l'Cie dugout erupted. Fang couldn't help it, she threw off her helmet and ran forward, wrapping her arms around Vanille. They started jumping up and down like women possessed.

"Eat shit!" Fang yelled, at no one in particular. "Eat shit!" 

It was the only time she'd sworn at the other team and Sazh didn't get her in trouble.

\- -

_Some_one ended up getting her in trouble though. "Ah," Lightning said, when they were in the locker rooms afterwards. Fang had come to a frozen stop in front of her own locker, (clearly marked out for each of them with masking tape by the Sanctum field staff before the game) and Lightning had come over to see what was up. 

They both stood for a moment, contemplating the word sprayed on in ugly black letters. The paint was still dripping. "Do you want to go kill someone now?" Lightning asked into the silence. The other girls were starting to notice.

"What's going on?" Vanille asked, coming to stand beside them. Then, "Oh..." 

"It's alright," Fang said, shrugging it off. "I'm used to it."

"You're _used_ to it?" Lightning sounded incredulous. 

"I've been called it before."

"You have?"

"What, the c-word? Yeah, do you know where I'm from, mate." It was rhetorical. Still, thoughthis particular word was basically slang back home, she knew in this part of the world, it went down like a lead balloon. Even Vanille, a fellow countrywoman, had to walk away. That hurt Fang a little, but she brushed it aside. It wasn't Vanille's job to hold her hand through a little locker room graffiti. 

"I'm still gonna have to report this," Lighting said.

"Go right ahead," Fang said calmly. It was madness, really. This was a home game for Sanctum. They were just making more work for their own people. 

She was too busying opening up the locker to notice that Lumina, Vanille and Serah all left the locker room together, and even if she had, she would not have known what to make of it.

\- -

  
Sahz took them to the pub after the game and bought them a round. Well, it might not be entirely accurate to say he took them there; it was the pub at their hotel. There was karaoke happening in the background. It gave Fang a sense of deja vu. 

  
"I'm proud of you all," Sazh said with a laugh. "Dunno if I'm allowed to say that, considering, you know, the fight and all. But it's true. We won the fight, and we won the game."

  
"Win the fight, win the game!" Snow called.

  
"Win the fight, win the game!" they all echoed. A few of the other patrons in the bar turned their heads.

  
"I heard about the locker," Sazh said, coming to lean on the bar next to her.

  
"It's alright." It really was. 

  
"Yeah, yeah." Sazh waved this away. "Look, I know you're tough and all but it still shouldn't have happened." His face got serious. "I spoke to their coach and if she doesn't look in, I'm probably gonna file a complaint. But right now?" As he spoke, he waved the bartender over. "I think you've earned an extra round tonight."

  
Fang was deeply touched. "Well, I won't say no to that." 

  
"That's what I figured," Sazh said with a smile. "Enjoy. I gotta get out of here soon. Gotta phone date with my kid."

  
As Fang watched him go, she pondered the fact that baseball was truly the only reason to venture into civilization.

  
Despite her behavior earlier Fang was hoping, and even expecting, that Vanille would come sit next to her. But to her disappointment, Vanille was with the other girls on the team, lining up shots at the secondary bar across the room. Huh. 

  
Lightning sat on the stool next to her and Fang gave her a nod. They were both in a quiet mood at the moment, Fang at least still running on the adrenaline of fighting and, if she was being honest, probably the locker thing as well. There was also this weird feeling of having fought for her woman's honor or some shit. Which was so stupid. They weren't even together. It was probably a good thing Vanille wasn't here or Fang would be fucking _preening_. Like an idiot.

  
She and Lightning just sat like that for a moment. There was a group of their teammates mingling on what passed for a dance floor here, and from where she sat she could see Maqui attempting to talk to some middle aged ladies who appeared to be tourists.   
Out of the middle of the crowd, Vanille materialized in front of her. "Fang! Dance with me!"

  
Bad idea. "I'm not in a dancing mood," Fang deflected. "But you go. It looks good."

  
"Noooo!" Vanille grabbed one of Fang's hands in both of hers. "Dance with me!" 

  
"Really," Fang said. It was hard to resist but it was that or make an idiot of herself. "I'm good, I promise."

  
And then, before she knew it, Vanille was sliding forward onto her lap. "At least let me by you a drink," she whined, her arms wrapping around Fang's neck. Fang could smell the alcohol on her breath. Gods, she was drunk already. Beside them, Lightning gave a suspicious cough, and Fang didn't dare look at her. There was a rash of heat up the back of her neck. Vanille's skirt, tight and short, was riding up dangerously and Fang slipped her hands around Vanille's thighs, desperately trying to keep her decent in front of their entire team. 

  
"You don't have to," she said, realizing that Vanille needed a response, and also that more alcohol right now was probably a bad idea, for both of them.

  
"But I want to!" Vanille was slurring a bit. Her face was very close. Um. "You fought for me today!"

  
Is that what this was about? "I didn't do it so you'd buy me a drink," Fang said firmly. Something weird was happening in her stomach. "I did it because I care about y—"

  
Vanille kissed her. 

  
Fuck, but it just wasn't _fair_. Vanille was kissing her and Fang was already so strung out from the game, from a season-long on that crush, from having the sweetest, prettiest girl in the world straddling her lap. And now they were kissing and Fang felt like she might explode. 

  
It wasn't fair that she needed to be the big kid right now. They were in public and Vanille was drunk, and also not someone Fang wanted to just bone. She gave herself a mental kick and with great reluctance, pulled back. 

  
_ Exit strategy, exit strategy... _

  
"What's wrong?" Vanille asked, interrupting her thoughts. "Was...was that a bad idea?" Her face was falling.

  
"No, you're good," Fang said quickly. "Let's get out of here." At that Vanille sighed happily and buried her face in Fang's neck. Which. Did not help Fang's desire to explode in any way.

  
Also Vanille wasn't moving from her lap. Shit. _Exit, exit... _

  
With as much grace as she could manage, Fang got a better grip and stood up. Just like squats. Vanille proceeded to wrap her arms around Fang's neck again, and settle herself more comfortably against her.

  
I hope you've paid your tab, Fang thought at her, as she started to make their way towards the exit. Good thing the only alcohol she'd had tonight had been what Sazh had bought for her.

  
"Have fun," Lightning drawled, and even though Fang was anxious to exit as quick as possible, she turned around to glare at her, before continuing on her way out the door.

  
Fortunately her and Lightning's room was only on the first floor so it wasn't too far to go. Just, you know, past reception and all the hotel staff. Vanille kept her face hidden as they went, but Fang could feel her occasionally nuzzle.

  
_ I've died and this is the afterlife,_ she thought hazily. _Or else someone put acid in my drink and I'm tripping balls._

  
It was difficult to get into her room with someone still in her arms—and Vanille did _not_ want to be put down—but she managed. Miraculously. Once inside, she tried to lay Vanille out on her bed. Vanille's legs unhooked from her waist but her arms stayed firmly around Fang's neck as she pulled Fang down to kiss her again. 

  
Oh kissing. It had been so long since Fang kissed anyone this way. Vanille's fingers were pulling in her hair, and it made Fang grin against her mouth. Vanille was amazing, and kind, and magical—

  
—and drunk. The thought was ice cold. Fang cupped a hand against Vanille's cheek and disengaged once more. "I'll get you some water," she said.

  
"Okayyy," Vanille chirped. The sight of her, rumpled and unself-concious on Fang's bed was... a lot to take in. Her skirt was still bunched up way too high, her legs look so slender, her tummy was peaking out from the disarray of her top. Fang looked away. 

  
She retreived a paper cup from the bathroom and brought it to Vanille, who drank obeidiently. She watched in awe as Vanille crumpled the empty cup and lobbed a high, arcing shot directly into the waste bin in the far corner. "Ta da!" She fell back onto Fang's pillows. "100 points!" And then she yawned, thank the gods.

  
"Let's go to sleep," Fang suggested. She moved to take off Vanille's shoes and got a great angle of Vanille pouting down at her. Ugh. _Horny_.

  
"I don't wanna go to sleep," Vanille said, looking unbearably adorable. She seemed perfectly content and let Fang take off her shoes though, blinking blearily down at her the whole time. Once both shoes were safely off, she took Fang's face in both hands and kissed her again. Her hands moved to Fang's collar and she tugged for Fang to come up onto the bed, to join her. Fang did, breaking away from her and settling herself on her side. Vanille fell back with a plop and looked up at her with those big soft eyes.

  
"I really think we should sleep," Fang said again, mustering her self-control. Drunk sex was no way to get into telling someone you liked them. Historically, it never went well.

  
"Why?" 

  
"Because." _Because Lightning could come back any moment. Because I know you feel bad about the fight and my locker. Because you do stupid shit to keep the peace. Because._ The worst thing in the world right now would be for them to do this and then Fang found out later that Vanille kissed her out of some wildly misplaced sense of obligation. She sighed. Oh just be an adult and say it. "...I really like you." She watched Vanille's eyes go wide and tried to ignore the clenching in her stomach. "I like you and I don't just want to sleep with you. And also, we've been drinking." She very deliberately did not say "_you've_ been drinking" because with drunk people that was more likely to get them to protest that they weren't drunk. She watched Vanille's face change as she spoke, trying not to falter. "Tell you what: if you still like me in the morning," breathe, "then we'll do this." 

  
"I— I will!" Vanille took Fang's hand in her own. "I will, I promise, Fang." 

  
Fang wanted to believe that so badly. She smiled softly. "Good." She brushed Vanille's hair off her forehead. "Then let's get some shut eye." And maybe the universe wasn't a completely cruel place because Vanille was asleep before she even turned off the light.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Designated hitters aren't on every team, the l'Cie don't have them because both Yuj and Vanille will bat.  
Also I literally played a ball game in school where the basemen would taunt you while you were waiting on base and you just had to deal with. Even got called a monster which in 2019 would be a huge compliment.  
Last thing, fights are more common in baseball than you'd think. Even the bench clearing ones. Google "bench clearing brawl, Yankees-Red Sox" if you don't believe me.


	7. In Which There Is Kissing

Fang had no way of knowing what happened after Vanille, Lumina, and Serah left the locker room that night. They slipped into the dimly lit hallway, towards the other team's showers. There was a vending machine on one side, where Serah and Lumina pretended to linger while Vanille waited on the opposite side, flanking the door. She idly pretended to be on her phone as Sanctum players started to file out of their locker room. It took about ten minutes before their target stepped out.

  
It was the player Fang had fought, the one she said had been trash talking. He had to be the one who spray painted Fang's locker. Or else he knew who did. Maybe it was irrational but Vanille didn't really care about the particulars right now. She started walking.   
As she bumped into him, the other player snapped "Hey!" and wheeled around to look at her. If he had a few inches on Fang, he absolutely towered over Vanille. Then, "What?" he demanded because Vanille was just glaring at him.

  
Her gaze was angry but inside, she felt calm. The evil eye was the oldest hex in the book. She used it sparingly, but it had never failed her. "Nothing," she said flatly, stepping over to join Serah and Lumina, who also glared up at him with twin stares. Once he had made bewildered eye contact with all three of them, they turned away. Lumina made a show of fishing a candy bar out from the vending machine before they walked off down the hallway to join their team.

  
_ Oh, he is gonna have so many nightmares. _  
\- -  
Back in the present, Vanille had woken up before her. When Fang finally scrunched her eyes open, Vanille was sitting on the side of the bed, her back to Fang. Lightning, apparently, hadn't bothered to come back to the room last night. Smart girl.

  
"Vanille?" Fang's voice sounded raspy from a night of sleep. She watched tension form in the line of Vanille's back. 

  
"Good morning!" Vanille didn't turn around, but her voice at least was cheerful. Then again, Fang knew better than to assume that meant anything.

  
"How are you?" Fang lifted at hand to rub at her eyes. When had they gotten under the covers? Finally Vanille turned. "I'm good!" She smiled too brightly. "Did you sleep okay?"

  
Fang took stock. No crick in the neck. No apparent headache, despite the light streaming through the window into her eyes. "Yeah," she said.

  
"Good." Vanille's gaze dropped. "That's good..."

  
There was painful silence before Fang thought, _Fuck it,_ and ripped the band aid. "Do you remember what I said last night?" She almost asked "_Do you remember last night at all?_" but that would have given Vanille a chance to lie. And Fang liked Vanille so, so, much but she also knew her. She knew what her anxieties were. Fang just wanted to spare her that. Fang wanted to spare her everything.

  
In a tiny voice, Vanille said "I remember."

  
Fang pushed herself up onto her elbows. "Do you still like me?" Her stomach was threatening mutiny.

  
Vanille was blushing to the roots of her hair. With a jolt, Fang remembered all the times she'd seen this before. "Yes."

  
Fang reached for her slowly, as though scared she might spook. Vanille turned just as slowly and crawled lay on the bed beside her. At some point in the night she had taken off her shirt. Fang pretend she didn't swallow hard as Vanille put a hand to her cheek and kissed her again. 

  
There was morning breath but the relief was so powerful that Fang did not give a fuck. If anything it felt... kind of domestic? It was morning kisses in bed, come on. Vanille left out a soft little sigh and Fang was going to explode. She rolled onto her back and pulled Vanille on top of her. Vanille took a moment to look down at her with those green eyes, her hair messy and falling about her shoulders and it was an absolutely perfect visual before she leaned down to kiss Fang again. She settled her weight along Fang's torso, arms framing her face and it felt so amazing. 

  
Fang couldn't remember exactly when she started liking Vanille but the answer felt like "pretty much always." She was so easy to like. Fang couldn't imagine anyone not being charmed by her.

  
She didn't want to push Vanille too far, didn't want to demand anything that she wasn't ready for, so she was content to lie there and keep making out until someone pounded on the door that the train was leaving. Fang could not begin to care what time it was, especially when Vanille was getting handsy, trying to get under Fang's shirt. It made her grin. _Fucking good._

  
There was some manouvering as Fang had to sit up a bit to get the shirt off over her head and Vanille took advantage of this fact to get her arms back around Fang's neck properly. She _whined_ when Fang had to take a pause from kissing to, you know, breathe, like that was inconvenient for her personally. It just made Fang grin some more. 

  
They wound up with Vanille lying back against the pillows with Fang on all fours over her. Vanille sighed contentedly. "Pillow princess," Fang couldn't help teasing her a little. 

  
To her delight, Vanille stuck out her tongue. "Hmph!" She just looked so relaxed and comfortable and it made Fang happy. She shifted her weight to one hand so that with her free hand she could run a hand through Vanille's hair. Then she settled back into business. Little Miss Pillow Princess was impatiently trying to wriggle out of her clothes. 

  
"Whoa there." Fang watched her in deeply vested interest. But then, because she was also a gentleman, she asked, "You're sure?"  
"Of course I'm sure." Vanille's gaze was determined. "Are _you_ sure?"

  
Fang bared her teeth. "You bet your ass." She kissed Vanille once more, for luck and then moved down to settle herself into position.  
Vanille seemed to find a boost of confidence. "Because it's okay," she said, her tone teasing this time, "if you've never done this before. You can tell me." 

  
"I am a catcher on a baseball team," Fang said, propping her chin on Vanille's lower stomach, as she settled in. "I have eaten pussy before." Also being 6 feet tall definitely didn't hurt. Damn, it felt good to be a lesbian. 

  
There was brightness in Vanille's cheeks again but this time it seemed like it was because she was happy. "I don't suppose you'd believe me if I said I have too?"

  
Fang considered this. "I would actually." Vanille, unlike virtually every other pitcher Fang had worked with, could emotionally self-regulate. That was huge. It was very hard to top someone properly if you didn't have yourself handled. She nuzzled against Vanille's tummy. "I bet you're good at it, too."

  
"I am!" Vanille was both defensive and laughing at herself for being defensive. It was great. Everything was great, the world was perfect. Even fucking Sanctum U, in this moment, seemed tolerable. In an indirect way, they were getting her laid, after all. She settled herself lower. Vanille spread her knees obligingly. 

  
"If you want," Fang suggested. "I could make a joke about breakfast being the most important meal of the day." She wiggled her eyebrows and that got her a nose scrunch in return.

  
"You could say a prayer," Vanille said, her voice a little breathier. She was trying not to squirm. 

  
Fang kissed her inner thigh. "Witches have a prayer for going down?" How was Vanille's skin so perfect? It was ridiculous, Fang always thought so.

  
Vanille was squirming now, her toes attempting to grip the sheets. "Not really." Her gazed flickered towards the ceiling. "But, you could make one up." 

  
"Hmm." Fang kissed Vanille's stomach considering this. "Any experience at all with praying over pussy?"

  
"Um." Vanille sounded guilty. "There was the one time a teammate said I cursed his dick?"

  
"What?" Fang was not going to say she was in love, because it was way too early for that. But. You know. She settled a hand between Vanille's legs. 

  
"He made it all up!" Vanille's voice pitched up at the end as Fang began to work at her softly with her thumb. "His dick was already cursed."

  
This seemed like an entirely reasonable explanation. "How much do I have to pay you to curse _my_ dick?" 

  
"Um." Vanille's hands clenched and unclenched. "It would be a lot cheaper if you would hurry up down there!" 

  
Fang laughed out loud. "You got it." She set to work.

  
They made it to the train platform with five minutes to spare. The rest of the team had already assembled. Sazh chewed them out for being late. It was totally worth it.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Googling "hexes in paganism" has probably put me on a watch list


	8. In Which Pretty Much Everyone Is Fighting

Lightning's hatred of Snow was basically comedy to Fang at this point. Like. As much as she cared about Light, and thought Snow was a good teammate and thought Serah was pretty okay, the whole thing was wild. Also, she was gonna be honest. She missed the days where they talked about _literally anything else._

  
It was one of the first truly hot days of the year, and she was relaxing with Lightning and Hope of the campus lawn. Hope had recently bought one of those tension bands you were supposed to be able to learn to tightrope walk on and Lightning was showing them how it was done. Because, of fucking course she knew how to tightrope walk. Light was basically a fucking can't, wasn't she?

  
"Are you going to answer that?" Fang asked, as Lightning's phone rang for the third time. It was Serah. For the third time.

  
"No." Lightning hopped down gracefully from the tightrope. Hope and Fang caught each other's eye. Hope looked away.

  
"You sure?" Fang watched Serah's call go to voicemail. Again.

  
"I'm sure." Lightning watched with a critical eye as Hope placed a foot on the band.

  
Fang was able to hold her tongue...but only for about 30 seconds. "So are you two fighting or...?"

  
"We're not fighting," Lightning said sharply. Hope was holding both hands out for balance. "How could we be fighting? There's nothing to discuss."

  
Ah. There was the stubborn bastard that she knew and loved. "You'll be singing a different tune if she doesn't ask you to be her maid of honor." Her hand snaked out and plucked a particularly long blade of grass that was growing at the base of the tree.

  
Lightning's gaze snapped to her. "What does that mean? Did she say something to you?"

  
"What?" Fang frowned. Satisfied with her blade of grass, she slipped it into her mouth to chew. "No. Why would she?"

  
"Did she say something to you about marriage?"

  
"Gods, no, Light." The very idea of them interacting about something so serious was hilarious. Serah was scared of her, probably. "Don't get your knickers in a twist. You think they're getting married? Already?"

  
"I thought they've only been dating 3 months," Hope interjected. Lightning glared at him now.

  
"Keep your head level," she chided. Then she relented. "They have." 

  
"So what's the problem then?" Fang cradled her head in her hands and looked up at the sky. They're already had practice today. It was such a good day to play ball. 

  
"He's impulsive." 

  
Fang laughed out loud. Even though she had just settled herself on the grass, she turned to look at Light again. "So that's it? You're angry that the big fella might propose to your sister? You're not even mad about something he's actually done?" 

  
"I thought he was meeting your family this weekend," Hope said. Again, Lightning glared at him.

  
"What, your aunt and uncle?" Lumina's parents. They practically raised Lightning and Serah after the car accident. Fang knew the whole story.

  
"It's fine," Lightning muttered.

  
"If it's so fine, why don't you call your sister back?" That earned her another stink eye from former Sergeant Farron of whichever fucking division. Fang gave her a shit-eating grin and thought, not for the first time, that it was good for Lightning to hang out with people who weren't scared of her. 

  
"Don't talk to me." 

  
"No problem." Fang closed her eyes and settled back on the grass.

  
"You're going, right?" Hope asked her after a minute. Fang opened one eye.

  
"_Is_ she?" She directed this question at Hope, because Lightning wasn't talking to her, apparently.

  
"Yeah." Hope had made it to the far end of the rope. Then, "you said you were going!" because Lightning had made a disgusted noise. 

  
"Damn. Good luck," Fang drawled cheerfully, checking her phone for the time. _Oh, whoops... _

  
"Not that this straight-people drama isn't fascinating," she said, stretching and climbing to her feet. "But Vanille's getting out of class now. I gotta go eat the box." She gave Lightning a friendly slap on the shoulder and enjoyed the resulting look of absolute distaste.

  
From: Fang  
To: Serah Farron  
_ i have 500 gil in my wallet rn and it's yours if you call Snow daddy in front of light_

  
From: Serah Farron  
_ i can't do that!!!_

  
From: Fang  
To: Vanille <3  
_whats it gonna take for you to call me daddy in front of light_

  
From: Vanille <3  
_ oh, you ARE a daddy aren't you?_

  
From: Vanille  
_ no charge!!!_

  
Fang was in love. 

  
When she opened Vanille's door, Vanille was lying on her tummy on the bed. Naked. Fang was doubly in love. "Hello, Daddy!" Vanille chimed, kicking her legs back and forth contentedly. 

  
Fang couldn't help the shark-like grin and split her face. She was into it. "Hello." She kicked her shoes off unceremoniously and leaned down to give her amazing girlfriend a kiss. "Now, I did say to call me that in from of Light." She put her hands on her hips and made a show of looking around. "Light's not here is she?" 

  
Vanille just laughed and rolled onto her back. "I thought it suited you!"

Fang ran a hand up her side, enjoying the goosebumps that stood out in her wake. "I'll take your word for it," she said. 

  
They were content to just kiss for a while, Fang still clothed and Vanille fully naked. Fang was very cheerfully scheming up ways to wreck her girlfriend in about five minutes, when Vanille's phone started going off.

  
"Sorry," Vanille squeaked, wriggling out from under Fang. "I'll turn it off!"

  
"No worries." Fang rolled to the side and watched her lazily. 

  
Vanille scooped her phone up off her desk and frowned at it. "Oh no," she sighed. 

  
"Hm?"

  
"It's Serah."

  
Fang groaned. "Don't tell me..."

  
"She needs to talk about Light." Vanille's eyes were apologetic and huge. "Sorry! This won't take too long, I swear." She held up her screen so Fang could see. 11 text messages, all from Serah. "She's upset."

  
Fang groaned again, grabbing Vanille's pillow and stuffing it down over her own face. She couldn't believe the fucking straights had followed her here, to Vanille's bedroom. Well, two straights and an asexual. Anyway, they were interrupting her eating of the pussy. Was _nothing_ sacred?

  
_ Guess I'll just smell my girlfriend's pillow and wank sadly_. Still, despite her annoyance, Fang came out from under the pillow to watch Vanille's half of the conversation. Vanille didn't look happy. Fang's hand found hers and squeezed. Vanille squeezed back.

  
It became clear to Fang very quickly as Vanille talked that this was about Lightning ignoring Serah's calls. Fang had to admit, she was approximately zero percent surprised. The way Lightning talked about Serah, how much softer and happier she was around Serah than she was about anyone else...Must make it that much worse when they argued.

  
Fang played with Vanille's fingers as she continued to listen in and Vanille smiled at her weakly. Then sat up sharply about a second later. "You think that's a good idea?" Vanille's eyes went wide and found hers. Fang sat up a little too. 

  
"Okay! Let's do it!" There was a pause. Then "Mmhmm, good idea." Her voice had that warm cheeriness. "Let me know what he says." As she hung up again, Fang watched her face change, becoming less cheerful and more thoughtful. 

  
"What's up?"

  
"We're going to Serah's family dinner!" Vanille gave her the brightest smile. "All we need is for Snow to agree."

  
"What?" Fang sat up all the way. "Vanille!" 

  
"Hm?" Vanille just batted her eyelashes.

  
Fang felt her annoyance spike. "Don't play dumb." She glared at Vanille's willfully oblivious smile. "You didn't want to ask if I wanted to go."

  
"It'll be okay?" Vanille offered.

  
Fang frowned. "You could have asked me."

  
"But...." Vanille's facade seemed to redouble and then falter. "I'm trying to help."

  
_Yeah but _I'm_ not_, Fang thought. She got a harsh grip on herself. "Put on something," she said, standing up off the bed. "I'm not doing this with you while you're naked." 

  
Vanille sat up properly and folded her arms over her chest. It was distracting. And ridiculous. "No!"

  
"No?"

  
"You can't make me!"

  
Oh _this_ was rich. "But you can make me come to dinner?" Fang was aware that she was getting more annoyed than maybe she had intended to.

  
"I'm trying to help!" Vanille repeated stubbornly. 

  
Fang groaned, running her hands through her hair in agitation. "What part about 'ask me before you volunteer me' is hard?" 

  
"I thought you would want to help too!" 

  
"I want you to _ask me_ for what you need." Fang found herself getting genuinely pissed.

  
"Okay." Vanille's voice had false sweetness. "Do you want to come to Serah's house for dinner?"

  
Fang folded her arms over her chest too. "That's a good start. Maybe. Now tell me why we're going."

  
Vanille was almost glaring. "To save her from sure disaster?" She titled her head in a parody of her usual cute mannerism.

  
Fang sighed. "Fine. But I don't appreciate you not asking me first." She held up a hand to forestall whatever Vanille was gonna say. "And we are _not_ having sex."

  
Vanille's mouth fell open, looking genuinely shocked. "Fine." She pointed at the door dramatically. "The door's right there!"

  
"Fine!"

  
"Fine!" The door closed behind her with a _slam!_ and Fang leaned back against it in a huff. Hhh, this was such classic Vanille. People pleaser. She ran her hand through her hair again. 

  
_ Time to go wank sadly, I guess._

  
\- -

  
One sub-par jack-off session later, Fang found herself reluctantly heading to Serah's dorm. This dumb dinner was important to Serah and helping Serah was important to Vanille. So by extension, even if Fang was still a little pissed, this was important to Fang. 

  
Fang knocked on Serah's door and Serah called "Come in!" Inside, the room had completely changed since Fang remembered it last. There were crystals everywhere, for one thing. Pink and yellow and a few silver. There were a few candles that seemed to be strategically arranged around the room as well. Like around Snow. Snow Villiers was lying spread-eagle on the floor, apparently doing his best impersonation of a trophy rug. He grinned at her as she came in.

  
"Oh, hey Fang."

  
"Hey there." She cocked her head. "What's going on in here?"

  
"Oh these?" Snow gestured vaguely at the ring of candles around him. "Serah just summoned me."

  
Serah, who appeared to be holding rose petals in her hands, giggled a little.

  
"What, it take too much effort to walk now? Knees finally give out?" Fang settled herself on the ground next to him. "Nice shirt by the way." They were both wearing a Tifa Lockhart jersey. One of the best major league catchers of all time. Fang didn't consider herself a jock, per se, but every time she and Snow wore the same thing, it really made her question her view of herself.

  
"Back at you." Snow reached out to give her a fist bump. With a laugh, she touched her knuckles to his. 

  
"So what's all this then?" she asked, tossing her head to indicate the rest of the room.

  
"I'm reclaiming the space," Serah explained. She seemed a little shy about it. "I've made a resolution to start taking up space for myself. Starting right here!" As she spoke, she tossed a handful of petals onto Snow.

  
"Hey!" He laughed though and made no attempt to brush them off. Fang grinned and picked one up off the floor, before placing it on Snow's nose. He went cross-eyed trying to look at it then just blew it off with another laugh.

  
Fang cleared her throat. "So," she began. "What's this dinner I've been hearing so much about?"

  
"Oh yeah," Snow said amiably. "I heard you guys are coming."

  
"We'd really appreciate it if you'd come," Serah said. She had a puppy dog face that could rival Vanille's. 

  
"What about your sister?" Fang leaned back on her hands. The edge of her jersey covered her jean shorts, making her appear to be all leg. She examined her leg muscles absently.

  
Serah glanced at Snow, possibly for support. "I've never seen Lightning this upset with me," she admitted finally. 

  
"What's she upset about? This guy?" Fang jerked her head at Snow. "Nothing else?"

  
"Well..." Serah hesitated. "She also doesn't like what I did to my room. Reclaiming is part of witchcraft. She doesn't want me winding up like Lumina or our aunt."

  
"What, batshit? Or a good centerfielder?" 

  
"A witch," Serah said softly.

  
Fucking society. "But you've got the Gift don't you?" Fang pointed out reasonably.

  
"I do..." 

  
"She's a natural," Snow said, probably out of sheer loyalty. Fang had to imagine that nothing in Snow's background offered a lot of opportunity to interact with witches, or to know the Gift when he saw it.

  
"Fang," Serah began. "Could you...talk to Lightning? She listens to you."

  
"I don't know about that," Fang said. "But if she thinks I've got a point, she will." Hearing herself, she sighed. _I guess I am helping after all._ Then she gave herself a shake. _There's worse things than trying to help your friends, mate._ She sighed again and looked at the ceiling. "I'll see what I can do." She contemplated where Snow was still lying in Serah's summoning circle. "Though," she began as something occurred to her. "I do think I'm gonna need your motorcycle."

  
Lightning had since gone off to class but once she was out, Fang swung by her room. "We need to talk." 

  
"About what?" 

  
"About your sister."

  
Lightning frowned at her. "Why do I need to talk to you about my sister?"

  
"Because I am dating the girl who roped herself into coming to your family gathering this weekend. So it looks like I'm going too."

  
Lightning whirled around. "What?" 

  
"You heard me." Fang folded her arms over her chest. "So you're stuck with us. Might as well have it out." 

  
Ooh, Lightning didn't like that. "I don't want to talk about it," she said, trying to brush past Fang on her way to the bathroom.

  
Fang stepped in front of her. "So then don't talk about it."

  
They were eye to eye. Lightning was a tall fucker, but so was Fang. Lightning liked to fight but so did Fang. Lighting's eyes searched her face, but she held her tongue. Good. 

  
"Way I see it," Fang continued. "We don't have to talk about it, but you do have to get that anger out somehow. Now that was a very fun fight we had in the parking lot that one time," and the corner of Lightning's mouth actually twitched upwards, as she acknowledged this point, "or we could find some other way. Something that's not gonna wreck the post season for us."

  
Lightning stared at Fang a little longer and Fang honest to the gods thought she was gonna choose to just take this outside. Then she sighed. "What did you have in mind?" 

  
Lightning had been open to taking the bikes out, but, "On one condition." She held up a finger. "I want Hope to come."

  
Fang felt her eyebrows go up, but she shrugged. She liked the kid well enough. "Don't see why not." Then she grinned. "He's riding with you though."

  
Fang had a lot of memories of being an angry teenager and her mom taking her out on the bike. Nothing like a good, long ride in the night air to clear your head. Fortunately for Hope, Snow's motorbike had some extra protective gear in the back pannier. Fang watched Lightning examine it thoughtfully before handing it over. She had a feeling she could guess what was going through the stubborn bastard's mind. Still, they got Hope settled without comment and they were off.

  
If you left campus the back way, you could actually avoid pretty much any traffic at all. Fang relished the lack of cars and raced ahead, allowing herself to picture being back home. Though Lightning also knew her way around a bike, she was forced to go a little slower to account for her passenger. Eventually Fang fell back to keep pace with them. She didn't really have anywhere in mind but between her and Lightning there's no way they'd get lost. 

  
They wound up on an old trail overlooking the Gapra Whitewood, where their university had a research grant in partnership with the government. They didn't go in: rumor was there are far too many things in there that you wouldn't want to meet at night. Lightning remembered a few from her military days. Fang personally had been chased by a few thexterons in her life, and she was not eager to relive that experience. They stayed well clear.

  
The three of them were content to just look out at the view for a while, the night air not yet too cold. Fang loved the feeling of freedom that came from being away from it all. 

  
To her surprise, it was Lightning who broke the silence first. "Did you see her room?" Her eyes weren't focused on anything in particular, just staring into the middle distance.

  
It took Fang's brain a moment to contextualize. "Who, Serah's?"

  
"Yeah."

  
"Yeah." Fang gave a shrug. "It looked good."

  
"Snow helped her with it, didn't he?" Light was somewhere in her head Fang couldn't follow.

  
"Yeah." She watched Light closely. "He did."

  
Lightning's gaze dropped to the ground. "Of course he did." Fang caught Hope's eye on Lightning's other side. They both looked back to her in concern.

  
"It'll be okay, Light," Hope said. "Serah will forgive you."

  
"I wouldn't," Lightning said.

  
Fang considered this. "I respect where you're at and all mate," she said. "But I don't think your life or hers is going to be better if you beat yourself up." 

  
Lightning sighed through her nose. "I got really angry," she said finally. "When Serah redecorated her room. When she asked Snow to help her instead of me."

  
_ And how do you think she felt when you started ignoring her calls?_ Fang wanted to say. But Lightning already knew the answer. And besides. They were having a moment here, so instead she settled for "Yeah."

"But I realized," Lightning continued. "That the only person I have to blame for that is myself. And that made me even angrier."

  
Hope hummed in understanding. Lightning glanced at him and seemed to relax into his companionable silence. It occurred to Fang that it kind of made sense that Lightning and Hope got along. 

  
"Well if it makes you feel any better," she said, "I am also having a fight with my girlfriend over this."

  
Lightning and Hope both looked at her. "What?" Lightning asked.

  
"Minor domestic," Fang amended. "In fact, way I see it, the fact that I'm out with you lot right now means I'm on my way to solving it." 

  
"Is this because Serah invited you?" 

  
"It sure is." Fang leaned her head back to look up at the stars, and sighed. Who were these people she'd chosen to call friends, anyway? But she laughed at herself. Even with the drama...they were kind of kickass. They just needed a push sometimes. "See, here's the difference between you and me." Turning back to both of them, she propped her elbow on her knee. "You two are emo, so you're all about wearing eyeliner. I'm punk so I'm all about wearing eyeliner, but also about direct fucking action." 

  
"But...none of us are wearing eyeliner," Hope pointed out.

  
"Stay focused Hope," Fang chided. "Point is, I got in a fight with my lady, but I went out and did something about it."

  
"What did you do?" Hope looked lost. Honestly she didn't blame the kid.

  
"I went and found you people," she pointed out reasonably. "I'm giving you a talking to." She refocused on Light. "Serah's moving forward with her life. Whether you like it or not." Lightning flinched as though Fang had hit her. Fang watched her for a moment but she made no other attempt to react. "I suggest you do the same." 

  
Lightning was quiet so long, Fang's brain started to focus on other sounds. She could hear the rustle of the trees in the distance. Hope was pulling up grass between his fingers. "...Yeah," Lightning said finally. Fang could see the wheels starting to turn in her head. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Her knees were tucked up to her chest. She turned to look at Fang and she was actually almost smiling. "Hey, when did you get so good at relationships?"

  
Fang was actually kind of touched. She nudged Light's shoulder affectionately. "It's all in your head, Farron." 

  
\- -

  
Vanille knocked on her door later that evening. "Can I come in?" 

  
Fang took a deep breath. "Yeah. Go for it."

  
The door opened slowly and Vanille lingered in the doorway. "Um. Hey."

  
Fang turned in her chair to face her properly. "Hey."

  
"I heard you went by Serah's today." 

  
"Yeah." Fang watched Vanille draw patterns in the carpet with her shoe. "I guess I did."

  
"That was really nice of you."

  
"It wasn't that nice," Fang deflected. "I'm too badass to be nice."

  
"But it _was_ nice!" Vanille's head snapped up and she met Fang's gaze. "Thank you."

  
"No worries." Fang tilted her head and looked at Vanille in consideration. Vanille looked at her in return.

  
"I really am sorry about earlier," she said.

  
"I get it," Fang told her. "You were trying to help."

  
"I promise to ask you next time."

  
"That's all I need." Fang held her gaze firmly. "I don't mind doing the things you need. I just want some warning that's all."

  
Vanille's fist clenched and she nodded determinedly. "Understood."

  
Fang smiled. "Good." 

  
Their was a pause as they looked at each other awkwardly.

  
"Are we good?" Vanille asked.

  
"Yeah, we're good." Fang held out her hands. "Get over here." With a happy giggle, Vanille came to settle herself in Fang's lap.  
  


"Oh, by the way," she pulled her phone out of her pocket. "I have something to show you!" Fang watched her curiously as she scrolled until she found what she was looking for. Finally she showed Fang the screen.  
  


_Bresha Bass Spotted in Lake for First Time in Ten Years,_ the headline read. Fang stared.  
  


_Holy shit.  
  
_

"Holy shit, Vanille. That's amazing!" She continued to skim through the story in awe.

"What we did worked!" Vanille sounded so incredibly happy. Fang grinned and stood up, Vanille wrapping her legs around Fang's waist to stay in place.  
  


"I reckon it did. You know what this means?"  
  


"What?" Those big green eyes were sparkling. Fucking beautiful. Fucking amazing.  
  


"We are going to be having make-up sex _and_ celebration sex." She showed all her teeth. "Now, that sounds pretty spectacular, wouldn't you say?"  
  


Vanille giggled and tightened her grip around Fang's neck. "Yes Daddy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @makapedia said I could bring the daddy kink into this


	9. In Which the Family Has Dinner

Because Vanille was apparently deeply invested in the Farron family dinner going well, she was going to be cooking for it. Something called Bunny's Balls—

  
"Bunny ball!" Vanille protested for the 3rd time, flicking flour into Fang's face.

  
"I'm just warning you now," Fang said, pinning her cheerfully against the counter. "I'm going to mess it up in front of the grown ups."

She used her weight to keep Vanille in place as she reached around her and swiped a chunk of rabbit meat from the now cooling skillet.

  
"Hey!" Vanille was laughing. Fang was forced to admit this was more fun than just showing up with a case of beer. She gave Vanille a quick peck on the forehead and stepped back, popping her snack into her mouth. 

  
"So," she said, surveying the amount of food on the counters. "How many of us are there? You, me, Light, Snow..." She ticked them off on her fingers. "Counting their family that's seven, right?" 

  
"I think so." Vanille also cast her gaze over the food. "Do you really think this is gonna be enough?"

  
"Well, like I said, this isn't gonna be the only food there." Fang was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. They both turned their heads. "Is that yours or mine?" 

  
Vanille scampered over. "Yours!" She handed Fang the phone. "It's Lightning!"

  
"Light?" _Holy shit, is someone dead?_ She picked up. "Well, this is a surprise."

  
"What?" Lightning sounded less than impressed.

  
"How long have we known each other?" Fang made eye contact with Vanille and grinned. "And you never call, you never write, you never visit..."

  
"I'm your roommate." 

  
There was a beat. Fang grinned obnoxiously. "You never call, you never write..."

  
"Will you shut up?" But the irritation in Lightning's voice was pretend irritation so Fang took the victory. "Look, are you busy right now?" 

  
"Uh," Fang glanced back to Vanille and her rabbit food. "I guess that depends. What's up?"

  
"I need to talk to you." There was the subtlest undercurrent of agitation in her tone. Fang felt her eyebrow go up. 

  
"Okay..."

  
"It's about Serah."

  
Fang tired to not feel extremely tired. "What about her?"

  
"Look." This time the agitation was obvious. "Can I come talk to you in person?" 

  
Lightning was...actually asking for help. Son of a bitch. Fang was fairly certain the only time she'd ever heard Lightning ask for help was when she needed someone to crack her back. "Yeah, sure. We're in the 3rd floor lounge. You wanna come by?" 

  
"Yeah." She imagined she could hear Lightning taking a breath. "I'll be right there."

  
Five minutes later, Fang was closing the lounge door behind herself, joining Lightning to stand in the empty hallway. "So what's all this about then?"

  
Lightning paused for a moment, staring at the floor, seeming to be in the middle of composing herself. "Serah wants to marry Snow," she said finally. 

  
This...huh. "Do you reckon?"

  
"I don't need to." Lightning's face was terse. "She told me." 

  
_Huh._ "So how're you feeling?" Fang watched her closely.

  
"I..." Lightning made an aborted scoff in her throat and dropped her gaze. "I should be happy for her."

  
"Yeah," Fang agreed easily. "You should." She watched Lightning's frown deepen. "But?"

  
"I just...I don't understand," she admitted. It was the closest Fang had ever come to seeing Lightning Farron look lost. "They've barely been dating any time at all." Finally, Lightning's eyes met hers. "How could you know? So quickly?"

  
Fang sighed. How to explain to someone who had never experienced it? "Sometimes you just meet someone you really like," she said simply. "It doesn't happen every day. But it happens."

  
Lightning focused on her more intently. "How about you and Vanille? You guys seem like a good match."

  
Fang resisted the urge to look over her shoulder to where she knew through the glass she'd be able to see Vanille, still working away. She could picture her anyway. She felt the warmth and peace that always came when thinking about Vanille. "We're a great match. But you're asking do I wanna spend the rest of my life with her?" Lightning gave a tiny nod. Fang shrugged. "Yeah, I think so." There was no point in denying it. She'd never liked anyone as much as she liked Vanille. However, "Am I gonna run off and do anything crazy though? Don't count on it." She crossed her armed for emphasis. As tempting as it was to just fucking elope some weekend, this was too important. "We're gonna take it one step at a time." She studied Lightning's face as she took this all in. "But you didn't come here to ask about my girlfriend."

  
Lightning sighed again. "No."

  
"So what is it? It scare you how much Serah like this guy?" She watched Lightning's shoulders slump. She softened her tone. "It does, doesn't it?" 

  
"...Yeah." It cost Light something to admit as much. Fang was almost touched to hear it. "But I'm trying." 

  
"I know." And she meant that. "What did you say?"

  
"I said 'thank you for telling me.'" Light looked deeply uncomfortable. "I didn't know what else to say."

  
If she and Light had been two different people, this is the point at which Fang probably would have hugged her. As it was she grinned. "Alright, look at you."

  
"What?" 

  
"That's progress! Your sister told you something about her boyfriend and you had a calm discussion about it."

  
"I guess..." The frown was back. "I don't _feel_ calm." 

  
"But at least you didn't hit anyone this time." Fang ducked her head to catch Lightning's gaze. "I mean... you didn't did you?"

  
The corners of Lightning's mouth twitched, which Fang counted as a massive success. "Not this time."

  
"There you go!" Fang grinned. "Progress! I'm so proud." 

  
A real smile threatened to break over Lightning's face. She fought to keep it in check. "Whatever."

  
"Look. It might not be a bad idea to talk to your sister about how your scared she's gonna run off with this guy and leave you. But this is a good start." When had Fang turned into a damn relationship counselor anyway? "I mean it."

  
The two of them just looked at each other for a moment. Then Lightning pushed her bangs back off her forehead. "Yeah okay." 

  
"Okay?"

  
"Yeah." She cleared her throat. "Good talk."

  
Fang smiled at her. She loved this stubborn bastard. "Good talk." 

  
"I'll see you at home." Lightning hesitated and then smiled, eyes dropping sheepishly. "Thanks."

  
"You betcha." Then, "Oh. By the way," as Lightning was just starting to head back down the hallway. "There's gonna be eight of us, yeah? At this party?"

  
She watched as Lightning performed a mental head count. "Ten." 

  
"Ten?"

  
"Yeah. I invited Sazh and Hope." The surprise must had shown on Fang's face because Lightning explained, "I wanted our aunt and uncle to meet some of my friends too." 

  
_Well fuck me_, Fang thought warmly. _Who coulda seen that coming?_ "So let me get this straight," she teased. "Sazh and Hope get to be your guests of honor, but Vanille and I are just what? Chopped liver?"

  
That got her a quiet little laugh. "Yeah. Something like that." Lightning studied her for a moment. "Hey. Thanks."

  
Fang smiled easily. "You got it."

  
And then Lightning was gone, ducking through the door to the stairwell. Fang watched her go, something like affection sitting in her chest.

  
Then she shook her head. _Vanille's gonna need more bunny balls._

  
\- -

  
The infamous day arrived and with it a swell of anxiety. Snow was installed in the bathroom, trying to figure out who he was when he couldn't wear a snapback. Lightning and Hope had disappeared to wherever the hell. Vanille, Lumina and Serah were on a conference call about etiquette, the nature of which Fang couldn't possibly be bothered to decipher. She had opted to take her chances with the first problem and was currently leaning in the doorway of Snow's bathroom. 

  
"Just trust me," she told him for about the fifth time, as he fretted at the black bandanna in his hands. "A bandanna is not better than a ball cap."

  
"It's not worse," he said. 

  
"It _is_ worse." They made eye contact in the mirror. "Look, big guy." Fang checked her watch. "We've got half an hour. Just dunk your head in the tub and let me go bring you Vanille's hair dryer." She indicated the back of his head where his cowlicks were refusing to behave. "You can't meet the family till you get that sorted."

  
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said dryly. But still, he pawed at the back of his head with a sigh. Despite all the product he'd already applied, the minute he moved it at all, it was already back in disarray. They made eye contact again. "You sure Vanille is fine with it?"

  
"Not a problem," Fang assured him. As a matter of fact, Vanille had shoo'ed her out 45 minutes ago, with the instructions to do _whatever it took_ for things to go smoothly. 

  
"Alright," Snow said, reaching for the tap. "I trust you."

  
"Good choice." Fang duck out to head for Vanille's dorm. 

  
She walked into Vanille's room without knocking. Vanille was on the bed, painting her nails and wearing a shirt she'd stolen from Fang. It warmed Fang's black little heart. She made sure Vanille knew she was there and got a little wave of acknowledgement. Serah and Lumina were still on speakerphone. 

  
As Fang ducked into the bathroom, she heard Serah say, "Light never makes a big deal out of things." Pause. "Well. Until she does." Vanille hummed encouragingly.

  
Hair dryer, hair dryer. Ah, here, poking out of Vanille's pink bathroom basket. Most things in here were pink. The handle of the freaking hair dryer was pink. Fang loved Vanille's unashamed love of pink. 

  
"Hey!" Lumina chimed in, from the other room, as though suddenly remembering something. "Have your heard about the leap year tradition? About proposing?" 

  
"We can't talk politics at dinner!" Serah protested.

  
Fang had no idea what that meant but that was her cue to leave. She popped back out of the bathroom and held up the hair dryer so Vanille knew she was taking it. Vanille flashed her a thumbs up and then Fang was gone. 

  
Snow had finished washing his hair by the time she returned and he sat on the edge of the tub, waiting for her to help him. His shirt was hanging on the shower bar to keep it from getting splashed and he had a towel around his shoulders.

  
"You should turn up like this," Fang teased, surveying him with a grin. "That'd really make an impression."

  
Snow shuddered dramatically. "I don't even want to think about that." But he grinned at her too. "So what's the trick to this?" He nodded to the hairdryer in her hand.

  
"I wouldn't know," Fang dismissed. "I never blow dry my hair."

  
"Great," Snow said with a laugh as she plugged it in. "This should go great then."

  
Fang genuinely couldn't see how there could be a trick to blow drying. Just aim warm air at wet surface and boom. Dry. She stood over Snow with the dryer on the highest setting and aimed it directly down onto his head. The problem was that his hair was sticking up? Better just blow directly down. Boom again.

  
"You know," she commented, over the noise. "I imagine this is how most straight couples work out their problems."

  
"How's that?" 

  
"Blowing into submission."

  
There was a pause. Snow was clearly trying not to laugh. "I don't know what to say to that," he told her. "Better just move on." His ears were a little red. 

  
"Smart boy." Fang patted his head condescendingly. _Oh hmm, seems like that's drying nicely_. She brushed her fingers through his hair a bit. Not half bad. They were gonna make sure this straight man looked impeccable for his future...in laws? In laws once removed? Something like that.

  
"What do you think of that?" she asked, once she was satisfied that the hair was basically dry. She stepped away so Snow could stand up and examine himself in the mirror.   
"Not bad," he said, inspecting the finished results closely. "You're right," he said looking at her. "This is way better than a bandanna."

  
"See?" She spread her hands. "What'd I tell you?"

  
"You're uh, not gonna wear that are you?" 

  
Fang looked down at her black biker tank. "What's wrong with this?"

  
"It has a dragon skull on it." He grinned a little. "I don't know if you noticed."

  
"Mate, I'm not meeting my in-laws today." Then she looked down at it again. Still, Operation Whatever the Hell This Was had already had a lot sunk into it already. She sighed internally._ What's one more costume change?_ "But you're probably right. Group effort."

  
"Team work makes the dream work," he agreed.

  
Fang shook her head. "Sure Coach." She checked her watch again. Roughly ten minutes. That was plenty of time to get ready. "We all meeting in Serah's room later?"

  
"Sounds good." Snow appeared to have moved on to debating between different scents of cologne. "See you there."

  
Fang had just been planning to put on a plain shirt and call it a day, but when she returned to her room, Vanille was in there, laying out a black jumpsuit on her bed. "You look nice," Fang told her, because she did. She had on a flowery pink dress thing. It had a collar. "The collar's a nice touch." 

  
"Thank you!" Vanille stood on her tiptoes to give Fang a quick peck. Mm, she smelled good too. "You were hiding this in the back of your closet," she accused, meaning the jumpsuit. 

  
"I forgot about it," Fang said, eyeing it. "I haven't had reason to wear it in a while."

  
"Well you're wearing it now!" 

  
"Okay, okay," Fang laughed taking it up off the bed. Vanille plopped herself down any looked up at her expectantly. "Are you just gonna watch me change?"

  
"Yep." Vanille clapped her hands. "Now chop, chop! We don't have all day."

  
Couldn't argue with that logic. 

  
All things considered they were more or less on time to meet Serah and Snow before catching the bus. Serah was wearing a dress too, Fang noted. Everyone was taking this very seriously. Snow was wearing a comfy looking sweater that would have made anyone else look non-threatening. On him however...

  
"How can I _see_ your biceps through your shirt?" Fang demanded laughingly, whacking an offending arm.

  
"Uh, it shrunk in the wash?" he offered with a sheepish grin. She could sense the nervousness under his smile but she figured he'd be just fine. Serah had one of his hands in both of hers.

  
"I think you look great!" she said firmly. Fang watched both of them relax as they looked at each other. Vanille's hand stole into hers and Fang smiled at her. Wholesome family bonding time, hell yeah.

  
"Where's Light?" she asked as they headed down to catch the street car. Serah just shook her head forlornly. 

  
"I don't know. I haven't heard from her since this morning." 

  
"Huh." Fang was aware of Vanille glancing at her in concern. She frowned a little. "She'll be there," she assured Serah, putting confidence into her tone. Lightning wasn't gonna bail. 

  
As they got up to the Farron house, Lumina opened the door, wearing a frilly black dress. Fang was starting to wonder if there had been in a memo in the group chat. "You guys are here!" she crowed.

  
"We sure are," Fang commented. 

  
Vanille held out her grocery bag enthusiastically. "We brought food!"

  
"Excellent. This way." Lumina twirled and led them into her house, her dress swishing around her.

  
It was a small house, but clean and meticulously decorated. Fang noticed a lot crystals, similar to the ones Serah had set up all over her room. There were also several pictures of the Farron girls covering the walls. Mr. Farron, Lightning and Serah's biological uncle, looked a lot like them, extremely pale and slender, with a pinky-ginger hair. Mrs. Farron was still of the pale, blond variety but she clearly not a Farron. 

  
As they went through the introductions, it was clear that Snow was the real interest. Fang and Vanille quickly found themselves regulated to the background as Snow was interrogated on everything from his family life to his GPA.

  
"Are you smart enough for my niece?" Mr. Farron demanded at one point. 

  
_ What kind of question is that? _

  
"Definitely not," Snow said with easy laughter. "She's gonna be a teacher, come on."

  
Mr. Farron smiled. "Good answer."

  
_ Fucking straight people._ Fang inched closer to Vanille. "Hear me out," she murmured. "What if you and I sneak off to make out in Light's old bed?"

  
"Hmm," Vanille tapped her lip, making a show of thinking about it. "That's very disrespectful. I love it!" Her smile was unrepentant.

  
Speak of the devil. That was the moment Lightning Farron opened the front door. "Hi," she said blandly, standing aside to let Hope and Sazh in behind her. 

  
"You look so good!" Vanille agreed enthusiastically. Lightning's purpley silky shirt thing was more color than Fang had ever seen on her. 

  
"You clean up well," she commented. Hope was wearing a nice shirt too, kind of tropical? Sazh was wearing a fucking _suit._

  
"Sazh!" Vanille crowed.

  
"Wow," Fang put in. "Way to show up the rest of us, old man." 

  
"You like it?" Sazh gave a little twirl. He was holding a bottle of wine in one hand. Lighting had a case of beer. "The old man's still got some game." 

  
Mr. Farron stood up to shake Sazh and Hope's hands. "Good to see you again," he told Sazh. To Hope he said, "I've heard a lot about you." 

  
Hope seemed flustered. "I've heard a lot about you too," he said. Have you? Fang thought, hiding a laugh. If Lightning ever talked about her family, aside from Serah, Fang hadn't heard it.

  
"I'm glad to see someone brought beer," she commented. Lightning gave a crooked smile.

  
"You weren't going to." 

  
"I have appetizers!" Mrs. Farron announced, her and Lumina sweeping in from the kitchen. 

  
Fang couldn't remember the last time she'd been to what some might call "a normal family dinner" but you know what? So far so good. Granted, family dinners that she'd heard tell about were supposed to have more yelling and fighting, but they'd get there. The night was still young.

  
"I think we can all agree," Mr. Farron was in the middle of saying as he selected a cracker thing off an appetizer plate. "That this administration has done a fine job getting our military back to where it used to be."

  
"That's certainly one man's opinion," Sazh said. Fang perked up excitedly. _Ah, here we go..._ She put her arm around Vanille, ready to get a show.

  
"You don't agree, Coach?" Mr. Farron said. 

  
"I just think it's better to take these things with a grain of salt."

  
"Have a beer," Lightning interrupted him.

  
"Uncle!" Serah said at almost the same time. "I wanted Vanille to tell about her magic practice!"

  
"Oh!" Under Fang's arm, Vanille snapped to attention. "I'd love to."

  
Fang sighed and sunk a little more against her. _Boring._

  
"Beer?" Lightning asked, holding a can out to her. Fang accepted it and Lighting settled in on the other side of her. Hope was in the armchair beside them. 

  
"Why'd you stop it?" Fang murmured, cracking the can open.

  
Lightning raised an eyebrow at her. "Because family fights are only fun on t.v."

  
Ah. Fang felt mildly chastised. "Cheers," she said and clinked her can against Lightning's. Hope reached around and cheered with them as well. From across the room, Sazh raised his beer in solidarity.

  
"I think Serah could have the Gift in certain areas of her life!" Vanille was explaining enthusiastically as Fang tuned back in. "She's very nurturing."

  
"Yeah," Lumina agreed enthusiastically. "Hey, Lightning remember the garden?"

  
Lightning kept her tone carefully calm. "Yeah." Fang took in from the men's faces that this was not your usual family dinner kind of discussion. 

  
_ Too bad fellas, every woman you know is magical._

  
"Hey Serah," Lumina continued wickedly. "Tell everyone about the cat you wanted to get." Serah immediately flushed bright red. Fang and Vanille glanced at each other curiously.

  
"I can't talk about it," Serah said firmly. "It'll jinx it."

  
"Lumina," Lightning cut in. "Leave her alone."

  
Fang made eye contact with Snow. Poor guy looked as confused as she did. 

  
"Dinner's ready!" Mrs. Farron called. They all stood up almost in perfect unison, grateful to be called away just as the conversation died.

  
Dinner went pretty smoothly. Vanille's bunny ball was a hit. Some of these city folks had never had rabbit before.

  
"Oh, if you're talking wild game, you gotta try deer," Fang put in, swallowing a mouthful hastily. "Venison is the best."

  
"Wild boar's better," Vanille said. "I'm sorry, it's the superior choice."

  
Fang raised an eyebrow at her. "I guess this means you're gonna kill me a boar sometime then, aren't you?" 

  
"You betcha," Vanille said cheerfully. "You just sit by the fire and I'll clean it and everything." She pounded her knuckles gently on her chest, a gesture that could only look adorable on her. "Gotta provide for my woman!"

  
Everyone else was looking at them. "Can we make a no-flirting rule please?" Lightning sighed.

  
"Mate," Fang grinned at her. "You can try."

  
"How long have you two been dating?" Mrs. Farron asked.

  
Fang did some quick math. "Two months?"

  
"Two months," Vanille confirmed.

  
"Wow," Mr. Farron said mildly. "I would have thought longer."

  
"Sometimes it seems like longer!" Vanille agreed. She rested her cheek on her hand and smiled at Fang.

  
"Yeah..." Serah agreed. "Sometimes it does." She was sneaking glances at Snow who was sneaking glances at her. Lightning rolled her eyes.

  
"Uh, does anyone want to talk about baseball?" Hope offered, looking around in concern.

  
"I do!" Vanille chirped.

  
"Always down for that." Sazh reached for the wine bottle. "Can I top anyone up?"

  
Baseball may have pretty well cut both Farron parents out of the conversation but it got them through the rest of dinner without drawing blood. "Why don't you all go find something to do until the dessert is ready?" Mrs. Farron suggested as her husband started to clear the table. Snow got up to help. "Very kind of you," she approved. Lumina rolled her eyes and turned to look at them.  
"What do we want to do?" 

  
"I wanna play catch!" Vanille raised her hand, excited as a kid in class.

  
"What about Jackpot?" Snow suggested, reaching for her plate. 

  
Fang nodded, handing hers over as well. "Love where your head's at."

  
"We can't," Lightning said. There was a look on her face like she'd eaten something sour. "We broke our neighbor's window last year now he has his dogs attack us on sight."

  
"I'm pretty sure they're part behemoth," Serah agreed sadly.

  
"We can take 'em," Snow said confidently, a stack of plates balanced in each hand.

  
Fang considered this. "Probably not a good look to kill the neighbors dogs though."

  
Snow eyed her. "Why is that the first place your mind goes?"

  
"Is that _not_ the first place your mind goes?" she teased. Then she cleared her throat. "But yeah. Probably not a good look to kill your girlfriend's neighbor's dogs."

  
"Not at the first meeting anyway," Lumina said completely deadpan. 

  
"Anyway," Sazh said, moving them along. "Better stay away from playing ball probably."

  
They started off playing poker and Fang pretty quickly got to discover something new and interesting about her girlfriend: she had one hell of a poker face. Vanille was always unfailingly cheerful, no matter what kind of hand she had. Fang found it fascinating. She found herself playing more and more distractedly, in favor of watching Vanille do her thing. She was a wildly unpredictable when it came to betting too, betting big when she was holding nothing more than a pair and betting modestly when she ended up having a straight.

  
It frustrated Lightning to no end. "What is your _strategy_?" she demanded, as they all revealed their cards.

  
"Whatever my heart tells me," Vanille said confidently, collecting her pile of winnings. Fang laughed aloud at the look on Light's face.

  
"Can't argue with that," she said, watching her girlfriend adoringly. 

  
They scattered around the living room after dessert. Sazh and the parents had gotten into a pleasant talk about the importance of extracurriculars or something. Lumina had ensnared Snow and Hope and was busy lecturing them about various woman-fronted emo bands. Fang was in the middle of helping Vanille pack up the tupperware she bought. Lightning was helping Serah clear everyone's dessert dishes. 

  
"So Snow..." Lightning started haltingly. Beside Fang, Vanille froze. Lightning had to clear her throat before continuing. "He makes a good first impression."

  
"Yeah!" Serah brightened under this praise. "He does."

  
Lightning leaned back against the wall. Fang watched her gaze darting towards the other room, checking to make sure that everyone was safely distracted. "Do you... do you really want to marry him?"

  
"Should we leave for this?" Fang suggested.

  
"No," Lighting said, at the same time Serah said "You can stay." They didn't look away from each other.

  
"I do," Serah said simply.

  
Lightning ran a hand through her hair. "How...How do you know that?"

  
"I don't know what to tell you." Serah sounded almost helpless. "I really like him."

  
Lightning was quiet for a long time. "Lightning's scared," Vanille chimed in, startling them. "Aren't you?"

  
"I'm not scared," Lightning said, way too defensively.

  
"What are you scared of, sis?" Serah reached out to take one of Lightning's hands. Lightning let her.

  
"I..." Lightning said. "It's hard to explain."

  
Fang figured she could help a sister out. "You're not gonna forget about Lightning if you marry this guy, right?"

  
"What?" Serah looked between Fang and Lightning in confusion. "Of course not!"

  
Lightning scoffed. She was avoiding eye contact. "It's a stupid thing to be worried about."

  
"It's not a stupid thing!" Serah insisted. She took Lightning's other hand. "It's been just us for so long. It's okay to be afraid."

  
"I'm not afraid," Lightning insisted automatically. 

  
"Light tends to get grumpy when she's not-afraid," Fang chimed in helpfully. Lightning pulled her hand out of Serah's and flipped Fang off. Fang flipped her off right back.

  
"Light..." Serah wasn't looking anywhere but at her sister. "Has this really been so bad?" 

  
Lightning searched Serah's face. "I just want you to be happy," she said. "If he's what makes you happy then, okay."

  
It was not the most gracious concession Fang had ever heard. But Serah's eyes had lit up. Vanille bounced in place.

  
"Good work everybody," she enthused, rocking back and forth on her heels. Serah glanced back at her and smiled. Lightning's posture relaxed.

  
"I can't believe you want a cat named Snow," she said. 

  
"Hey it could be worse, you know," Serah began defensively. "Fang was trying to get me to say I call Snow 'Da—"

  
"Hey Mrs. Farron!" Fang interrupted, as that very same person interrupted the kitchen. "Are you having a good time?" 

  
It wasn't her smoothest cover ever but Mrs. Farron smiled. "I am, thank you." She looked and Fang and Vanille before clearing her throat delicately. "Would you two mind stepping out? I need to talk to my girls." 

  
"Our work here is done anyway," Vanille told her, taking Fang by the hand. To her surprise, as Vanille led them out of the kitchen, she avoided living room, instead slipping them out the screen door leading out into the backyard. 

  
"What's going on?" Fang watched Vanille take great pains in not letting it slam shut behind them.

  
"Well..." Satisfied that the door was safely closed, Vanille turned to look up at her again. "You were saying you wanted to make out, right?" Fang's heart swelled. "I know it's not Light's old bed room but..." She giggled. "I don't think anyone will miss us for a while."

  
Fang felt her eyebrows go up, and for half a second she tried to think if there was any reasonable objection in the world why they should not do this.

  
"Come onnn," Vanille whined, taking her by the hand again. "I know you were getting sick of playing nice in there."

  
Fang breathed in sharply. _So this is love._ "I should stop playing nice, should I?" She stepped forward, smiling.

  
Vanille had her hands tucked behind her back. "Maybe..." She had to stifle a shriek as Fang picked her up. 

  
"Gonna get us caught, Oerba Dia," Fang teased. Vanille kissed her. It was so good to be alive.

  
She didn't put them up against the wall by the door because that would be disrespectful. Besides. The kitchen window looked out onto the backyard. She took them around the side and a little alcove of about three square feet before the fence met the house again. Vanille gave a squeak as Fang held her up against the siding. 

  
"Is this what you wanted?" Fang asked, grinning but also watching Vanille carefully. There was that poker face, after all.

  
There was nothing but warmth on Vanille's eyes as her hands tangled in Fang's hair. "It's better." Fang moved in to kiss her again, but Vanille wasn't done. "Um." Her gaze was incredibly sincere. "Thank you. For helping with this." Fang felt a thrill of surprise. "It means a lot to me to see other people happy." 

  
That warm feeling swept her heart again. "Yeah of course. I love those guys." Fang gave a smile to lighten the mood. "Don't tell 'em I said that though." 

  
"I won't." Vanille smiled back at her.

  
"I like to see you happy too." Fang's voice came out softer than she meant it to. She could hear her own heart, hammering in her ears.

  
"_You_ make me happy," Vanille said quietly, eyes bright even in the darkness. Fang studied her face.

  
"Are you _crying_?" 

  
"No!" Vanille blinked rapidly. "I'm happy!"

  
Fang pressed her forehead to Vanille's and nuzzled at her. "You big softie."

  
"It's okay to cry when you're happy," Vanille insisted.

  
"I know it is."

  
"Good." Vanille's legs tightened around her waist. "Now shut up and kiss me."

  
Fang laughed. "Needy." 

  
"You like it."

  
"I do," Fang agreed and kissed her. She liked Vanille so much she was going to lose her mind. 

  
She wasn't sure how long they were out there before Lightning caught them. She just knew by that point her hands were gripping Vanille's thighs under the dress, Vanille lipstick was a disaster and there were going to be nail marks where Vanille had gripped her arms. Fang was just thinking in a haze, that she was ready to come to family dinners twice a week if they were all like this, when Lightning's voice cut through the fog, in her best drill sergeant bark.

  
"What the hell, you two!"

  
Fang and Vanille broke off giggling. Lightning was glaring at them, her hands on her hips. Fang rested her head against Vanille's shoulder for a moment before letting her down. The night was beautiful. _Admit it,_ she thought to the world at large. _What's better than us? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading ! It's been a fun ride. :) If you want a visual of everyone dressed up look up the FFXIII x Prada crossover.   
(And yes, for those of you that didn't play the sequel that definitely doesn't exist, Serah did name her cat Snow.)

**Author's Note:**

> "Flutterball" is another name for a knuckleball. :)


End file.
